To assess the role of peripheral epinephrine in social anxiety, the
authors infused 11 patients meeting DSM-III criteria for social phobia with
intravenous epinephrine over 60 minutes. Although the mean plasma
epinephrine level increased from 113 to 928 pg/ml, only one of the 11
patients experienced observable anxiety; this finding suggests that an
increase in plasma epinephrine level alone is inadequate to cause social
anxiety. Of the variables measured, only the average minute volume
correlated with self-rated anxiety. Ventilatory indexes might be better
correlates of subjective anxiety than other physiological variables.Abstract Teaser