Cortisol Responses to Psychological Stressors in Social Anxiety Disorder: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

The purpose of this meta-analysis is to examine the association between social anxiety disorder and cortisol response to psychological stressors. A total of 9 studies comparing individuals diagnosed with social anxiety disorder (SA: N＝265) and healthy controls (HC: N＝199) were included. Effect sizes were calculated and averaged across baseline (before stressor onset), stress (stressor onset up to 25 min after stressor offset), and recovery (more than 25 min after stressor offset) periods. Overall, SA individuals exhibited higher cortisol levels at all time periods. This result indicates that SA individuals exhibit exaggerated cortisol response not only in the face of social stressors, but also through pre and post-stress cognitive processing.