Brain Injury Enhances Fear Learning And Excitatory Processes

This study uses secondary research in order to make connections between ideas and concepts that can illuminate the topic. Through search of databases and online book resources, the development of a rich foundation of resources can help to explore the subject matter. Using keywords to define the search, the literature can be used in order to determine how connections can be made between PTSD and TBI. Once the literature was accumulated and reviewed, the information from those works was put into context with the research questions and concepts were developed by creating connections between those works. This essay will therefore focus on the existing body of knowledge that has addressed the concepts of PTSD in details. Specifically, I would draw a keen and focused comparison or analysis between the effects of brain damage and the consequences or effects of PTSD, the level of damage and mitigative roles to combat the situation.

A child who is under the age of puberty is lacking the chemicals in the brain to see the whole picture and make decisions so the wounds that happen in childhood, a time during which the child does not have the capacity to understand, trigger responses not based on the whole picture of the event just happened, it is based on the adrenaline of the events and the relationship of the current event to previous events and trauma stored in the brain. Once a child is traumatized, the child will be more vulnerable to perceiving future events as trauma. In the bible Paul says, “We are not to cast down arguments or strongholds and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bring every thought into captivity and to the obedience

At least 50% of all adults and children are exposed to a psychologically traumatic event (such as a life-threatening assault or accident, humanmade or natural disaster, or war). As many as 67% of trauma survivors experience lasting psychosocial impairment, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); panic, phobic, or generalized anxiety disorders; depression; or substance abuse.(Van der Kolk, et al, 1994) Symptoms of PTSD include persistent involuntary re-experiencing of traumatic distress, emotional numbing and detachment from other people, and hyperarousal (irritability, insomnia, fearfulness, nervous agitation). PTSD is linked to structural neurochemical changes in the central nervous system which may have a direct

This is a brief synoposis of how the brain process trauma. The “DOING” brain called the amygdala, is located in the limbic system, where response to threat, and intense emotion happens (Ferencik, 2010). This is intended to act as a “smoke alarm” that triggers when our brain thinks we are in danger. It is designed to help us respond to possible danger and react accordingly. The “THINKING” brain called the prefrontal cortex helps us plan, solve problems, and organize the world around us. It helps us analyse situations realistically and make logical decisions (Ferencik,

The hippocampus, memory and organization portion of the brain, and the amygdala, the “fight or flight” portion, are both confused by PTSD (“PTSD and The Brain”, 2-3). For example, if an Iraqi soldier hears a helicopter overhead, the hippocampus remembers the sound of the helicopter and works with the amygdala to associate that noise with a traumatic war event. The amygdala then will induct a fight or flight response, causing symptoms of PTSD to initiate. (Ibid, 3) While symptoms can be difficult, the hardest part of having PTSD, is sometimes admitting you have a disorder.

1.5 million people in the United State of America have a traumatic brain disorder (TBI). These disorders have symptoms of memory dysfunction, depression and anxiety; Dr. Byrnes and her team at the Uniformed Services University have examined mouse models to find the cellular mechanisms for these symptoms.

Many scientists have been turning to genes that may have a role in creating fearful memories for an explanation as to what causes PTSD. They have also been studying different areas of the brain that control fear and stress such as the amygdala and prefrontal cortex. The amygdala has a role in the early stages of learning to fear and not to fear certain situations. The prefrontal cortex is said to help control the extinction of long term fearful memories. An individual genetics, brain area growth, and other environmental factors play a role in the risk of the individual developing PTSD after a traumatic

Traumatic brain injury affects people from all walks of life. Form military personal to the elderly that get injured when they fall or even athletes in relation to the injuries they acquire. Traumatic brain injury progressively leads to complex pathophysiological events that may lead neurodegenerative complications. For those that have experienced traumatic brain damage are more susceptible for the development of diseases such as Alzheimer’s, dementia, epilepsy, posttraumatic stress disorder, and neuropsychiatric disorder. The progression of these diseases can occur in a span of a few weeks, months, or even decades after trauma, so it is important to look over the underlying pathophysiology that traumatic brain injury can cause after the injury

It is the goal of this paper to demonstrate that the phenomenon of PTSD, despite the fact that its multiple emotional and psychosocial effects are constantly being debated, is soundly rooted in neurobiology, and that this aspect of PTSD lends support to the notion that brain = behavior.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a widespread disorder that affects certain individuals psychologically, behaviorally, and emotionally following the experience of a traumatic event (Lee et al., 2005, p. 135). However, because of inconsistencies regarding the percentage of individuals who experience PTSD and the percentage of individuals who subsequently develop PTSD, researchers hypothesize that both biological and environmental factors contribute to the development of PTSD (Wolf et al. 2010, p. 328). In order gain a better understanding of this disorder and to discover contributing and predicative factors which contribute to the development of PTSD, this paper analyses the historical context and prevalence of PTSD, the

The amygdala is known to learn from exposure to fear and store assessment of threat–related stimuli. The prefrontal cortex is involved in extinction and the retention of fear and is connected to the amygdala. Finally, the hippocampus encodes the context during fear learning process and sends it to the amygdala. People with PTSD have hyper-activity in the amygdala, while having hypo-activity in the prefrontal cortex and there is reduction of the hippocampus volume. This reduction may limit proper evaluation and categorization of the experience. A study on Vietnam soldiers revealed that lesions in the amygdala and prefrontal cortex resulted in the absence of PTSD. To get further into the molecular level studies been done on the hormonal system. “Stress is known to contribute to the pathogenesis of a variety of disorders, including the majority of psychiatric like major depression and posttraumatic stress disorder.” (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3825244/pdf/DM30-02-343616.pdf). Research has revealed evidence that a hormonal system known as the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is the one that gets disrupted in people with PTSD. The hormonal system is involved in normal stress reactions, so the disruption of this system in people with PTSD creates this “false alarm”. It has been suggested by some scientist that the dysfunction of the HPA system results in hippocampal damage in people with PTSD. Damage in the hormones is caused by damage to

Scientists research the human body so that we, as human-beings, know how to protect our bodies and can learn some interesting facts for the better of our knowledge. Many think that the brain is an interesting topic. It is probably because there are still many things about the human body that are unknown. The human brain is just like the ocean, dark and strange. The brain is one of the most mysterious in our bodies because there is still so much that isn’t known about it. With new advances in technology, it has become much easier to study the brain and how it works. Many articles have been and are being written about studies that show new knowledge or could potentially lead to a big discovery. Just one example would be where emotions and reactions come from inside the brain.

The malfunctioning hippocampus may be preventing flashbacks and nightmares from being completely processed, so the anxiety they create doesn 't reduce over time. In a study, carried out by Scientific Council Member Yvette I. Sheline, MD looking at women with PTSD only, the research team found that for both disorders, more severe depression symptoms meant fewer connections between different brain regions and the amygdala. The amygdala is part of the brain that has been found to be crucial for integrating emotional experiences. Also the study found there were fewer connections between the ventromedial prefrontral cortex, a part of the brain related with fear-based and social parts of decision making, and the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, known to regulate brain areas, especially those used for processing sadness. A study by University of Wisconsin-Madison neuroscientists has been able to show that stress chemicals can reshape the brains of rodents. The model delineates the chemical steps that occur after trauma in the brain, and that these steps lead to the distinct features of PTSD. Also Dr John Briere alongside W.E. Krill, Jr, have published a book called ‘The Gentling Workbook for Teen and Adult Survivors of Child Abuse’ that discusses the possibility that the hormone cortisol plays a role in producing the symptoms of PTSD. The hormone is produced in the adrenal gland and it can sometimes be referred to as the ‘stress hormone’

A total of 51 males and female Wistar rats are gathered into group-housed Macrolon cages, where they were under standard conditions such as, 12-hour light and dark time schedules, room temperature environment, and given tap water every other day.

Subjects: 12 female Long Evans rats (6 handled, 6 non-handled) and 12 male black and white rats (6 often-handled, 6 infrequently-handled) were used for this study. Each rat was approximately 125 days old (4 months and 2 days) on the day of the study (born on 7/5/2017). They were housed in cages – 2 rats per cage – of the same sex, while receiving food and water ad libitum under a 12hr:12hr light-dark cycle. Half of the male and female rats were handled twice a week for two weeks (8/29/2017-9/6/2017) (i.e., being held by student researchers and stroked on their backs), while half the rats were left untouched in their cages except for when used in one other experiment. One unhandled female rat was excluded from research analysis due