Post Traumatic Stress Disorder : Neural Correlates And Biomarkers

Studying the brain has been an affective result in finding out the various neurochemicals that are involved with PTSD. Brain imaging systems nowadays focus on two brain structures, the amygdala and the hippocampus. The amygdala is involved with how we learn about our fear and hippocampus plays a role with our memory formation. Some research focuses on a hormonal system known as hypothalamic-pituitary

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder can do a range of things to the brain. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder makes the victim continuously remember the event. It was originally known as “shell shock” where vets were struggling going through daily life. Finally after the Vietnam War Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder was “identified and given its name.” When these discoveries were made, proper treatment was then given to the victims. Research shows that

"Feature: Post Traumatic Stres Disorder PTSD: A Growing Epidemic / Neuroscience and PTSD Treatments." U.S National Library of Medicine. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2014.

Hartman, David. "PTSD." Journal of Heart Centered Therapies 13.1 (2010): 44. Health Reference Center Academic. Web. 21 Apr. 2016

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has been studied extensively. The majority of the population has experienced an event that was traumatic enough to potentially cause Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder with it also being common for most people to experience more than one event with the potential to induce Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Kilpatrick, Resnick, Milanak, Miller, Keyes, Friedman, 2013). Studies have shown that veterans diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder show an escalation in the anxiety levels that is much greater than soldiers that have not been diagnosed with PTSD as well as higher than the general fit population (Olatunji, Armstrong, Fan, & Zhao, 2014).

Those diagnosed with PTSD have shown a reduction in the volume of the hippocampus. The hippocampus helps humans remember new memories and then be able to recall them later, and also helps identify between past and present memories. The amygdala is another section of the brain affected by PTSD, and the amygdala is responsible for processing emotions and fear. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex is shown to have a decreased size in cases. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex regulates negative emotions like stress, anxiety, and fear. The strange behaviours of the patients diagnosed with PTSD can be explained by the damage to the brain. “Researchers believe that the brain changes caused by PTSD increase the tendency of a person developing other psychotic and mood disorders” (brainblogger.com). The brain is like a machine made up of small parts, and if one of these parts break, the machine does not function

Traumatic events also produce profound and lasting changes in physiological arousal, emotion, cognition, and memory. Moreover, traumatic events may result in the severance of these normally integrated functions from one another. Traumatized individuals may also suffer from the memories of the tragic or horrifying experiences they have undergone. Frequently, as a result of these many symptoms, it becomes inevitable for the individual to develop certain complications associated with trauma-related disorders, such as posttraumatic stress disorder.

In the United States (US) posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affects 8 out of every 100 persons (United States Department of Veterans Affairs [USDVA], 2015). In which account for about 8 million people that include the military veterans (USDVA, 2015). About 10% of women and 4% of men will develop PTSD during some course of their lives (USDVA, 2015). Veterans are more susceptible to PTSD due to longer exposures to trauma, danger, or witness a violent life threaten incidence during their military service periods (USDVA, 2015). The development of PTSD becomes chronic after no longer seeing or under the “fight-or-flight“ experiences causing a psychological and/ or mental breakdown (National Institutes of Health [NIH], n.d). Such

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

The majority of Vietnam veterans experienced delayed or chronic PTSD which we know now, can remain dormant for years until symptoms are triggered. According to the Vietnam Veterans’ Readjustment Study, approximately 30.9% of men and 26.9% of women soldiers in Vietnam had PTSD at some point in their lives. (P8) Lifting these requirements from the DSM-III allowed many more veterans to step forward; and with this new massive population of test subjects- scientists were able to research the dynamics, variables, and patterns of PTSD, through the advancements of neuroimaging and neuroscience. (P9) “There were many more cases of PTSD among Vietnam veterans than any other war.” (P5) A number estimated to be near 500,000. (P11)

Military Pathway (2013) concluded “Military life, especially the stress of deployments or mobilizations, can present challenges to service members and their families that are both unique and difficult”. Hence, it is not surprising that soldiers returning from a stressful war environment often suffer from a psychological condition called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. This paper provides a historical perspective of PTSD affecting soldiers, and how this illness has often been ignored. In addition, the this paper examines the cause and diagnosis of the illness, the changes of functional strengths and limitations, the overall effects this disease may have on soldiers and their families, with a conclusion of

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

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affects 7.7 million American adults and can also occur during childhood. PTSD is an anxiety disorder that stems from a recent emotional threat such as a natural, disaster, war, and car accidents. PTSD usually occurs from an injury or coming close death. A person who has experienced a past traumatic event has a heightened chance of being diagnosed with PTSD after a current trauma. PTSD can also be determined by looking at one’s genes, different emotions, and current or past family setting. Normally, when a person without PTSD goes through a traumatic event the body releases stress hormones, which in time returns back to normal; However, a person with PTSD releases stress hormones that do not return

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