Effects of stress on autonomic reactivity in alcoholics. Pupillometric studies. i.

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Abstract
Pupillary reactivity was used as an index of autonomic nervous system functions in an investigation of differences between 10 nonalcoholics and 25 inpatients in an alcoholism treatment program. The subjects'' pupillary reactions to measured intervals of light and darkness were photographed while the subjects were at rest and during stress, created by placing 1 arm in a cold-water bath, and during homeostatic recovery. At rest, the alcoholics were characterized by deficient pupillary contraction in response to light and attenuated dilation during adaptation to the dark, suggesting deficiencies in both sympathetic and parasympathetic outflow. Under stress, alcoholics responded with an attenuated sympathetic outflow and with an aberrant decrease in supranuclear inhibition. Differences in pupillary contraction and dilation as functions of time were evaluated by an analysis of variance of repeated measurements. At rest, between-groups differences were significant for contraction and dilation: during stress and homeostatic recovery, there were significant between-groups differences in maximum pupillary dilation and maximum pupillary contraction.