Seminar: Physiological and emotional vulnerability to social stress of suicidal patients
Date: Thursday, March 19, 2026, 15:00h-16:00h UTC+2 (CEST) Online Speaker: Adrián Alacreu Title: Physiological and emotional vulnerability to social stress of suicidal patientsAuthors: Adrián Alacreu-Crespo 1 , Emma Sebti 2 , Myriam Benramdame 2 , Emilie Olié 2 yPhilippe Courtet 21 Area of Personality, Assessment and Psychological Treatment, Department ofPsychology and Sociology, University of Zaragoza, Teruel, Spain email:aalacreu@unizar.es2 IGF, Univ. Montpellier, CNRS, INSERM, Montpellier, France / Department ofEmergency Psychiatry and Acute Care, Lapeyronie Hospital, CHU Montpellier,Montpellier, France Abstract:Individuals with a history of suicide attempt (SA) exhibit a particular sensitivity to socialstress. The literature suggests that stress response, which can be influenced by impulsivity,is at the core of suicidal vulnerability. Particularly suicidal patients with high impulsivity havegreater cortisol response to social stress. However, emotional, cardiovascular (CV) andinflammatory response is remains understudied. We performed two studies to investigate thecomplete physiological and emotional response to social stress in individuals with a history ofSA or suicidal ideation. Participants were placed in a social stress situation using the virtualTrier Social Stress Test (v-TSST) or the classic TSST. CV response was measured usingimpedance cardiography throughout the TSST, and emotional response was assessed usingquestionnaires at different time points. We also obtain blood and saliva samples to measurecortisol, inflammatory markers and blood count. Impulsivity traits were evaluated using theBIS-10. SA subjects showed a significant decrease in pre-ejection period (PEP) before theTSST, suggesting an anticipation to stress. Cortisol response was blunted in SA patients.Moreover, inflammatory markers show great variability in SA and SI patients compared toaffective controls. Impulsivity was able to separate participants with high responsiveness tosocial stress vs low responsiveness in some of the studied variables. These results show apattern of vulnerability to stress in suicidal patients. Additionally, results with impulsivity showtwo patterns to respond to stress in suicidal patients. This fact may have clinical implicationsas it may help to create specific interventions to suicidal patients vulnerable to stress. — If you are interested in giving a talk please write an email to: lab.imbody@gmail to: lab.imbody@gmail.com.