A study conducted last year at Tufts University’s Department of Psychology in Medford, United States, sought to understand one of the most difficult aspects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): why some people Although patients with the disease have experienced similar traumas,didn’t you improve the situation?
In formulating a hypothesis that might justify these different responses to trauma exposure, the researchers focused on one symptom of the disorder: the so-called “extreme vigilance”It was defined by the study’s lead author, Cecilia Hinojosa, as the need to constantly monitor their environment to investigate potential threats.
Published in the magazine last December Journal of Psychiatric ResearchResearch has identified a brain marker that may indicate greater vulnerability to disease when trauma occurs. This “hypersensitivity” occurs in a specific area of the brain – the amygdala – in response to perceived threats.
How did researchers discover the PTSD tendency?
To test their hypothesis, the Tufts team worked with 27 pairs of identical twins. to show which features are familiar and which are not.. Clinical trial participants were placed in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machines to map brain activity, while subjects were subjected to stimuli represented by images of a surprised face and a neutral face.
In the twins in the test group, one sibling was traumatized and developed PTSD, and the other was not traumatized. In the control group, one brother was traumatized but did not develop PTSD, and the other did not experience any trauma. Participants with PTSD had more amygdala activationwhile observing both surprised looks and neutral facial expressions.
Interestingly, the same was true for the non-traumatic twins in the non-PTSD group. Scientists have concluded that this is so. inflated activation of the amygdala that predisposes individuals to the disorder.
ARTICLE – Journal of Psychiatric Research – DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2022.10.049.
Source: Tec Mundo
I’m Blaine Morgan, an experienced journalist and writer with over 8 years of experience in the tech industry. My expertise lies in writing about technology news and trends, covering everything from cutting-edge gadgets to emerging software developments. I’ve written for several leading publications including Gadget Onus where I am an author.
