Blunted cardiovascular and cortisol reactivity to acute psychological stress: A summary of results from the Dutch Famine Birth Cohort Study

Integrative commentary: implications of blunted reactivity

The previous issue of the International Journal of Psychophysiology was a special issue that collected some of the latest emerging evidence on blunted reactivity and its relationships with a variety of negative health outcomes. This commentary on the special issue briefly reviews each of the contributions and then provides some thoughts on the general themes that run through these papers. The findings from the special issue suggest that both lower and higher than expected cardiovascular and neuroendocrine responses to active psychological challenges may be maladaptive and differentially associated with adverse health sequelae.