ARQ National Psychotrauma Centre

Background

Many studies report smaller hippocampal and amygdala volumes in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but findings have not always been consistent. Here, we present the results of a large-scale neuroimaging consortium study on PTSD conducted by the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC)–Enhancing Neuroimaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis (ENIGMA) PTSD Working Group.

Methods

Recent years have seen increasing attention on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) research.

While research has largely focused on the dichotomy between patients diagnosed with mental disorders and healthy controls — in other words, investigations at the level of diagnoses — recent work has focused on psychopathology symptoms.

Symptomics research in the area of PTSD has been scarce so far, although several studies have focused on investigating the network structures of PTSD symptoms.

Abstract

Objectives

Dissociation is a prevalent phenomenon among veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that may interfere with the effectiveness of treatment. This study aimed to replicate findings of a dissociative PTSD subtype, to identify corresponding patterns in coping style, symptom type, and symptom severity, and to investigate its impact on post-traumatic symptom improvement.

Abstract

In recent years there has been increased interest in Bayesian analysis in many disciplines  Bayesianmethods implement Bayes’ theorem, which states that prior beliefs are updated with data, and this process produces updated beliefs about model parameters.

The prior is based on how much information we believe we have preceding data collection, as well as how accurate we believe that information to be. Within Bayesian statistics, priors can come fromany source; for example, a meta-analysis, a previous study or, even, expert consensus.

Abstract

Rationale: Oxytocin has been suggested as promising pharma-cological strategy for prevention and medication-enhanced psychotherapy (MEP) for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), by influencing neural fear responses, peripheral stress responses and socio-emotional functioning [1].

Abstract

Rationale: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating psychiatric condition that can develop after experiencing a traumatic event. PTSD risk may depend on an interaction between genetic and environmental vulnerability factors. Epigenetic processes such as DNA-methylation are responsive to environmental factors (e.g. stress) and can alter gene-expression, and have been found to mediate between trauma exposure and PTSD development [1].

Background: Confrontation with a traumatic (e.g. disaster-related) loss is a risk factor for the

development of psychopathology, including symptoms of prolonged grief (PG), posttraumatic

stress (PTS), and depression. Although interventions have been developed for reducing

post-loss psychopathology, more research into the effectiveness of treatment is needed

to improve care for bereaved persons. Cognitive therapy (CT) and eye movement desensitization

and reprocessing (EMDR) have been shown to be effective in trauma-exposed

In the past few years the number of refugees worldwide has increased dramatically. Many of them were traumatized in their homelands due to violent conflict or persecution, as well as during their flight, and are confronted with ongoing stressors in the exile countries. In order to contribute to enhancing the clinical knowledge, this special issue of the European Journal of Psychotraumatology focuses on traumatized refugees.

Anger and aggression are common mental health problems after military deployment. Anger and aggression have been associated with abnormalities in subcortical and cortical levels of the brain and their connectivity.

Here, we tested brain activation during the processing of emotional stimuli in military veterans with and without anger and aggression problems.

Thirty military veterans with anger and aggression problems and 29 veterans without a psychiatric diagnosis (all males) participated in this study.