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Hinojosa CA, George GC, Ben-Zion Z. Neuroimaging of posttraumatic stress disorder in adults and youth: progress over the last decade on three leading questions of the field. Mol Psychiatry 2024; 29:3223-3244. [PMID: 38632413 DOI: 10.1038/s41380-024-02558-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2023] [Revised: 04/04/2024] [Accepted: 04/08/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024]
Abstract
Almost three decades have passed since the first posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) neuroimaging study was published. Since then, the field of clinical neuroscience has made advancements in understanding the neural correlates of PTSD to create more efficacious treatment strategies. While gold-standard psychotherapy options are available, many patients do not respond to them, prematurely drop out, or never initiate treatment. Therefore, elucidating the neurobiological mechanisms that define the disorder can help guide clinician decision-making and develop individualized mechanisms-based treatment options. To this end, this narrative review highlights progress made in the last decade in adult and youth samples on three outstanding questions in PTSD research: (1) Which neural alterations serve as predisposing (pre-exposure) risk factors for PTSD development, and which are acquired (post-exposure) alterations? (2) Which neural alterations can predict treatment outcomes and define clinical improvement? and (3) Can neuroimaging measures be used to define brain-based biotypes of PTSD? While the studies highlighted in this review have made progress in answering the three questions, the field still has much to do before implementing these findings into clinical practice. Overall, to better answer these questions, we suggest that future neuroimaging studies of PTSD should (A) utilize prospective longitudinal designs, collecting brain measures before experiencing trauma and at multiple follow-up time points post-trauma, taking advantage of multi-site collaborations/consortiums; (B) collect two scans to explore changes in brain alterations from pre-to-post treatment and compare changes in neural activation between treatment groups, including longitudinal follow up assessments; and (C) replicate brain-based biotypes of PTSD. By synthesizing recent findings, this narrative review will pave the way for personalized treatment approaches grounded in neurobiological evidence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cecilia A Hinojosa
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
| | - Grace C George
- Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA
| | - Ziv Ben-Zion
- Department of Comparative Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
- US Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for PTSD, VA Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, CT, USA
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2
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Tonon AC, Ramos-Lima LF, Kuhathasan N, Frey BN. Early Life Trauma, Emotion Dysregulation and Hormonal Sensitivity Across Female Reproductive Life Events. Curr Psychiatry Rep 2024; 26:530-542. [PMID: 39187611 DOI: 10.1007/s11920-024-01527-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/14/2024] [Indexed: 08/28/2024]
Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW To explore the relationship between early life trauma, hormonal sensitivity, and psychiatric disorders across female-reproductive life events, with a focus on the neurobiological mechanisms. RECENT FINDINGS Childhood trauma significantly increases the risk of subsequent mood disorders during periods of intense hormonal fluctuation such as premenstrual, pregnancy, postpartum, and perimenopause. Neurobiological changes resulting from early trauma influence emotion regulation, which emerges as a key predisposing, exacerbating, and perpetuating factor to hormonal sensitivity and subsequent psychiatric symptoms. We identified altered stress response and allopregnanolone imbalance, bias in cognitive processing of emotions, neuroimage correlates and sleep disturbances as potential underlying neurobiological mechanisms. This review integrates cumulative findings supporting a theoretical framework linking early life trauma to hormonal sensitivity and mood disorders. We propose that some women might be more susceptible to such hormonal fluctuations because of emotion dysregulation following significant early life trauma.
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Affiliation(s)
- André C Tonon
- Mood Disorders Program and Women's Health Concerns Clinic, St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, 100 West 5th Street, Hamilton, ON, L8N 3K7, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, 100 West 5th Street, Hamilton, ON, L8N 3K7, Canada
| | - Luis Francisco Ramos-Lima
- Mood Disorders Program and Women's Health Concerns Clinic, St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, 100 West 5th Street, Hamilton, ON, L8N 3K7, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, 100 West 5th Street, Hamilton, ON, L8N 3K7, Canada
| | - Nirushi Kuhathasan
- Mood Disorders Program and Women's Health Concerns Clinic, St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, 100 West 5th Street, Hamilton, ON, L8N 3K7, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, 100 West 5th Street, Hamilton, ON, L8N 3K7, Canada
| | - Benicio N Frey
- Mood Disorders Program and Women's Health Concerns Clinic, St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, 100 West 5th Street, Hamilton, ON, L8N 3K7, Canada.
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, 100 West 5th Street, Hamilton, ON, L8N 3K7, Canada.
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Moallem BI, Wen Z, Hammoud MZ, Su W, Pace-Schott EF, Milad MR. Impact of trauma type on neural mechanisms of threat conditioning and its extinction. J Psychiatr Res 2024; 178:50-58. [PMID: 39121707 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2024.07.039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2023] [Revised: 07/22/2024] [Accepted: 07/27/2024] [Indexed: 08/12/2024]
Abstract
Trauma type moderates the impact of trauma exposure on clinical symptomatology; however, the impact of trauma type on the neural correlates of emotion regulation is not as well understood. This study examines how violent and nonviolent trauma differentially influence the neural correlates of conditioned fear and extinction. We aggregated psychophysiological and fMRI data from three studies; we categorized reported trauma as violent or nonviolent, and subdivided violent trauma as sexual or nonsexual. We examined skin conductance responses (SCR) during a fear conditioning and extinction paradigm. For fMRI data analyses, we conducted region-specific and whole-brain analyses. We examined associations between beta weights from specific brain regions and CAPS scores. The group exposed to violent trauma showed significantly higher SCR during extinction recall. Those exposed to nonviolent trauma showed significantly higher functional activation during late extinction learning. The group exposed to violent trauma showed higher functional connectivity within the default mode network (DMN) and between the DMN and frontoparietal control network. For secondary analyses of sexual vs nonsexual trauma, we did not observe any between-group differences in SCR. During late extinction learning, the group exposed to sexual trauma showed significantly higher activation in the prefrontal cortex and precuneus. During extinction recall, the group exposed to nonsexual trauma showed significantly higher activation in the insular cortex. Violent trauma significantly impacts functional brain activations and connectivity in brain areas important for perception and attention with no significant impact on brain areas that modulate emotion regulation. Sexual trauma impacts brain areas important for internal perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- B Isabel Moallem
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, New York University, New York, NY, 10016, USA; Faillace Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, McGovern Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, TX, 77054, USA
| | - Zhenfu Wen
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, New York University, New York, NY, 10016, USA; Faillace Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, McGovern Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, TX, 77054, USA
| | - Mira Z Hammoud
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, New York University, New York, NY, 10016, USA; Faillace Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, McGovern Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, TX, 77054, USA
| | - Wenjun Su
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, New York University, New York, NY, 10016, USA
| | - Edward F Pace-Schott
- Sleep and Anxiety Disorders Laboratory, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, 02129, USA
| | - Mohammed R Milad
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, New York University, New York, NY, 10016, USA; Faillace Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, McGovern Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, TX, 77054, USA.
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4
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Agathos J, Putica A, Steward T, Felmingham KL, O'Donnell ML, Davey C, Harrison BJ. Neuroimaging evidence of disturbed self-appraisal in posttraumatic stress disorder: A systematic review. Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging 2024; 344:111888. [PMID: 39236486 DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2024.111888] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2024] [Revised: 08/23/2024] [Accepted: 08/28/2024] [Indexed: 09/07/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The experience of self-hood in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is altered cognitively and somatically. Dysfunctional negative cognitions about the self are a central mechanism of PTSD symptomatology and treatment. However, while higher-order brain models of disturbances in self-appraisal (i.e., cognitive processes relating to evaluating the self) have been examined in other psychiatric disorders, it is unclear how normative brain function during self-appraisal is impaired in PTSD. METHODS This paper presents a PRISMA systematic review of functional neuroimaging studies (n = 5), to establish a neurobiological account of how self-appraisal processes are disturbed in PTSD. The review was prospectively registered with PROSPERO (CRD42023450509). RESULTS Self-appraisal in PTSD is linked to disrupted activity in core self-processing regions of the Default Mode Network (DMN); and regions involved in cognitive control and emotion regulation, salience and valuation. LIMITATIONS Because self-appraisal in PTSD is relatively under-studied, only a small number of studies could be included for review. Cross-study heterogeneity in analytic approaches and trauma-exposure history prohibited a quantitative meta-analysis. CONCLUSIONS This paper proposes a mechanistic account of how neural dysfunctions may manifest clinically in PTSD and inform targeted selection of appropriate treatment options. We present a research agenda for future work to advance the field.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Agathos
- Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Level 3, 161 Barry Street, Parkville, Victoria 3053, Australia.
| | - A Putica
- Department of Psychology, Counselling and Therapy, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia
| | - T Steward
- Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Level 3, 161 Barry Street, Parkville, Victoria 3053, Australia; Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - K L Felmingham
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - M L O'Donnell
- Phoenix Australia Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - C Davey
- Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Level 3, 161 Barry Street, Parkville, Victoria 3053, Australia
| | - B J Harrison
- Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Level 3, 161 Barry Street, Parkville, Victoria 3053, Australia.
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Miranda O, Kiehl SM, Qi X, Brannock MD, Kosten T, Ryan ND, Kirisci L, Wang Y, Wang L. Enhancing post-traumatic stress disorder patient assessment: leveraging natural language processing for research of domain criteria identification using electronic medical records. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak 2024; 24:154. [PMID: 38835009 PMCID: PMC11151516 DOI: 10.1186/s12911-024-02554-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2024] [Accepted: 05/28/2024] [Indexed: 06/06/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Extracting research of domain criteria (RDoC) from high-risk populations like those with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is crucial for positive mental health improvements and policy enhancements. The intricacies of collecting, integrating, and effectively leveraging clinical notes for this purpose introduce complexities. METHODS In our study, we created a natural language processing (NLP) workflow to analyze electronic medical record (EMR) data and identify and extract research of domain criteria using a pre-trained transformer-based natural language model, all-mpnet-base-v2. We subsequently built dictionaries from 100,000 clinical notes and analyzed 5.67 million clinical notes from 38,807 PTSD patients from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Subsequently, we showcased the significance of our approach by extracting and visualizing RDoC information in two use cases: (i) across multiple patient populations and (ii) throughout various disease trajectories. RESULTS The sentence transformer model demonstrated high F1 macro scores across all RDoC domains, achieving the highest performance with a cosine similarity threshold value of 0.3. This ensured an F1 score of at least 80% across all RDoC domains. The study revealed consistent reductions in all six RDoC domains among PTSD patients after psychotherapy. We found that 60.6% of PTSD women have at least one abnormal instance of the six RDoC domains as compared to PTSD men (51.3%), with 45.1% of PTSD women with higher levels of sensorimotor disturbances compared to men (41.3%). We also found that 57.3% of PTSD patients have at least one abnormal instance of the six RDoC domains based on our records. Also, veterans had the higher abnormalities of negative and positive valence systems (60% and 51.9% of veterans respectively) compared to non-veterans (59.1% and 49.2% respectively). The domains following first diagnoses of PTSD were associated with heightened cue reactivity to trauma, suicide, alcohol, and substance consumption. CONCLUSIONS The findings provide initial insights into RDoC functioning in different populations and disease trajectories. Natural language processing proves valuable for capturing real-time, context dependent RDoC instances from extensive clinical notes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oshin Miranda
- Computational Chemical Genomics Screening Center, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA
| | | | - Xiguang Qi
- Computational Chemical Genomics Screening Center, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA
| | | | - Thomas Kosten
- Menninger Department of Psychiatry, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Neal David Ryan
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA
| | - Levent Kirisci
- University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA
| | - Yanshan Wang
- University of Pittsburgh School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA
| | - LiRong Wang
- Computational Chemical Genomics Screening Center, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA.
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Ressler A, Hinchey LM, Mast J, Zucconi BE, Bratchuk A, Parfenukt N, Roth D, Javanbakht A. Alone on the frontline: The first report of PTSD prevalence and risk in de-occupied Ukrainian villages. Int J Soc Psychiatry 2024:207640241242030. [PMID: 38605592 DOI: 10.1177/00207640241242030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/13/2024]
Abstract
IMPORTANCE The ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine marks a critical juncture in a series of events posing severe threat to the health of Ukrainian citizens. While recent reports reveal higher rates of PTSD in Ukrainian refugees following Russia's invasion - data for Ukrainians remaining at the warfront is inherently difficult to access. A primarily elderly demographic, Ukrainians in previously Russian-occupied areas near the front (UPROANF) are at particular risk. DESIGN Data was sourced from screening questionnaires administered between March 2022 and July 2023 by mobile health clinics providing services to UPROANF. SETTING Previously occupied villages in Eastern and Southern Ukraine. PARTICIPANTS UPROANF attending clinics completed voluntary self-report surveys reporting demographics, prior health diagnoses, and PTSD symptom severity (n = 450; Meanage = 53.66; 72.0% female). EXPOSURE Participants were exposed to Russian occupation of Ukrainian villages. MAIN OUTCOME AND MEASURES The PTSD Checklist for the DSM-V (PCL-5) with recommended diagnostic threshold (i.e. 31) was utilized to assess PTSD prevalence and symptom severity. ANCOVA was used to examine hypothesized positive associations between (1) HTN and (2) loneliness and PTSD symptoms (cumulative and by symptom cluster). RESULTS Between 47.8% and 51.33% screened positive for PTSD. Though cumulative PTSD symptoms did not differ based on HTN diagnostic status, those with HTN reported significantly higher PTSD re-experiencing symptoms (b = 1.25, SE = 0.60, p = .046). Loneliness was significantly associated with more severe cumulative PTSD symptoms (b = 1.29, SE = 0.31, p < .001), re-experiencing (b = 0.47, SE = 0.12, p < .001), avoidance (b = .18, SE = 0.08, p = .038), and hypervigilance (b = 0.29, SE = 0.13, p = .036). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE PTSD prevalence was higher than other war-exposed populations. Findings highlight the urgent mental health burden among UPROANF, emphasizing the need for integrated care models addressing both trauma and physical health. Given the significance of loneliness as a risk factor, findings suggest the potential for group-based, mind-body interventions to holistically address the physical, mental, and social needs of this highly traumatized, underserved population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Austin Ressler
- Department of Human Biology, Sattler College, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Liza M Hinchey
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA
| | - Jonathan Mast
- Department of Human Biology, Sattler College, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Beth E Zucconi
- Department of Human Biology, Sattler College, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Anatoliy Bratchuk
- Department of General Medicine, National Pirogov Memorial Medical University, Vinnytsia, Vinnytsia Oblast, Ukraine
| | - Nadia Parfenukt
- Department of Nursing, The First Kyiv Medical College, Ukraine
| | - Dianne Roth
- College Of Nurses of Ontario, Toronto, Canada
| | - Arash Javanbakht
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA
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Fine NB, Neuman Fligelman E, Carlton N, Bloch M, Hendler T, Helpman L, Seligman Z, Armon DB. Integration of limbic self-neuromodulation with psychotherapy for complex post-traumatic stress disorder: treatment rationale and case study. Eur J Psychotraumatol 2024; 15:2256206. [PMID: 38166532 PMCID: PMC10769120 DOI: 10.1080/20008066.2023.2256206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2023] [Accepted: 07/24/2023] [Indexed: 01/04/2024] Open
Abstract
Treatment Rationale: Exposure to repeated sexual trauma, particularly during childhood, often leads to protracted mental health problems. Childhood adversity is specifically associated with complex posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) presentation, which is particularly tenacious and treatment refractory, and features severe emotion dysregulation. Augmentation approaches have been suggested to enhance treatment efficacy in PTSD thus integrating first-line psychotherapy with mechanistically informed self-neuromodulation procedures (i.e. neurofeedback) may pave the way to enhanced clinical outcomes. A central neural mechanism of PTSD and emotion dysregulation involves amygdala hyperactivity that can be volitionally regulated by neurofeedback. We outline a treatment rationale that includes a detailed justification for the potential of combining psychotherapy and NF and delineate mechanisms of change. We illustrate key processes of reciprocal interactions between neurofeedback engagement and therapeutic goals.Case Study: We describe a clinical case of a woman with complex PTSD due to early and repetitive childhood sexual abuse using adjunctive neurofeedback as an augmentation to an ongoing, stable, traditional treatment plan. The woman participated in (a) ten sessions of neurofeedback by the use of an fMRI-inspired EEG model of limbic related activity (Amygdala Electrical-Finger-Print; AmygEFP-NF), (b) traditional weekly individual psychotherapy, (c) skills group. Before and after NF training period patient was blindly assessed for PTSD symptoms, followed by a 1, 3- and 6-months self-report follow-up. We demonstrate mechanisms of change as well as the clinical effectiveness of adjunctive treatment as indicated by reduced PTSD symptoms and improved daily functioning within this single case.Conclusions: We outline an integrative neuropsychological framework for understanding the unique mechanisms of change conferring value to conjoining NF applications with trauma-focused psychotherapy in complex PTSD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Naomi B. Fine
- Faculty of Social Sciences, School of Psychological Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
- Sagol Brain Institute Tel-Aviv, Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel-Aviv, Israel
| | - Ellie Neuman Fligelman
- Lotem Center for Treatment of Sexual Trauma, Department of Psychiatry, Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Nora Carlton
- Lotem Center for Treatment of Sexual Trauma, Department of Psychiatry, Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Miki Bloch
- Psychiatric Department, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel-Aviv, Israel
| | - Talma Hendler
- Faculty of Social Sciences, School of Psychological Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
- Sagol Brain Institute Tel-Aviv, Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel-Aviv, Israel
- Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
- Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
| | - Liat Helpman
- Psychiatric Department, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel-Aviv, Israel
- Department of Counseling and Human Development, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Zivya Seligman
- Lotem Center for Treatment of Sexual Trauma, Department of Psychiatry, Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Daphna Bardin Armon
- Lotem Center for Treatment of Sexual Trauma, Department of Psychiatry, Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel
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Helpman L. On the Stress of Being a Woman: The synergistic contribution of sex as a biological variable and gender as a psychosocial one to risk of stress-related disorders. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2023; 150:105211. [PMID: 37141960 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105211] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2023] [Revised: 04/28/2023] [Accepted: 05/01/2023] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Stress-related disorders (SRD) disproportionately affect women. Cortisol blunting, a failure to demonstrate a typical rise and fall of cortisol in response to stress, is associated with SRDs and has been found to be more pronounced among women. Cortisol blunting relates to both sex as a biological variable (SABV; e.g., estrogens and their fluctuations, impact on neural circuits) and gender as a psychosocial variable (GAPSV; e.g., discrimination, harassment, gender roles). I suggest a theoretical model linking experience, sex- and gender-related factors, and neuroendocrine substrates of SRD to the heightened risk among women. The model thus bridges multiple gaps in the literature to create a synergistic conceptual framework with which to understand the stress of being a woman. Utilizing such a framework in research may allow identifying targeted, sex-and gender-dependent risk factors, informing psychological treatment, medical advice, educational and community programming, and policy. DATA AVAILABILITY: All references are cited as required, no other data is reported.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liat Helpman
- Department of Counseling and Human Development, University of Haifa.
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9
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Zhang Y, Chen H, Qi R, Ke J, Xu Q, Zhong Y, Wu Y, Guo Y, Lu G, Chen F. Aberrant white matter microstructure evaluation by automated fiber quantification in typhoon-related post-traumatic stress disorder. Brain Imaging Behav 2022; 17:213-222. [PMID: 36576688 DOI: 10.1007/s11682-022-00755-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/16/2022] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Super typhoons can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can adversely affect a person's mental health after a disaster. Neuroimaging studies suggest that patients with PTSD may have post-exposure abnormalities of the white matter. However, little is known about these defects, if they are localized to specific regions of the white matter fibers, or whether they may be potential biomarkers for PTSD. Typhoon survivors with PTSD (n = 27), trauma-exposed controls (TEC) (n = 33), and healthy controls (HCs) (n = 30) were enrolled. We used automated fiber quantification (AFQ) to process the participants' DTI and compared diffusion metrics among the three groups. To evaluate diagnostic value, we used support vector machine (SVM) and a random forest (RF) classifier to build a machine learning model. White matter fiber segmentation between the three groups was found to be statistically significant for the fractional anisotropy (FA) value of the right anterior thalamic radiation (ATR) (26-50 nodes) and right uncinate fasciculus (UF) (60-72 nodes) (FDR correction, p < 0.05). By analyzing the characteristics of the machine learning model, the two most important variables were the right ATR and right UF for differentiating PTSD and trauma-exposed controls (TEC) from the healthy controls (HC). In addition, the left cingulum cingulate and left UF were the most critical variables in the differentiation of PTSD and TEC. AFQ with machine learning can localize abnormalities in specific regions of white matter fibers. These regions may be used as a diagnostic biomarker for PTSD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yiying Zhang
- Department of Radiology, Hainan General Hospital (Hainan Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University), Hainan Medical University, No. 19, Xiuhua St, Xiuying Dic, Haikou, Hainan, 570311, People's Republic of China
| | - Huijuan Chen
- Department of Radiology, Hainan General Hospital (Hainan Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University), Hainan Medical University, No. 19, Xiuhua St, Xiuying Dic, Haikou, Hainan, 570311, People's Republic of China
| | - Rongfeng Qi
- Department of Medical Imaging, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210002, Jiangsu, China
| | - Jun Ke
- Department of Medical Imaging, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210002, Jiangsu, China.,Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, 215006, Jiangsu, China
| | - Qiang Xu
- Department of Medical Imaging, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210002, Jiangsu, China
| | - Yuan Zhong
- Department of Medical Imaging, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210002, Jiangsu, China.,School of Psychology, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210002, Jiangsu, China
| | - Yanglei Wu
- MR Collaboration, Siemens Healthineers Ltd, Beijing, 100000, China
| | - Yihao Guo
- Department of Radiology, Hainan General Hospital (Hainan Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University), Hainan Medical University, No. 19, Xiuhua St, Xiuying Dic, Haikou, Hainan, 570311, People's Republic of China
| | - Guangming Lu
- Department of Medical Imaging, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210002, Jiangsu, China
| | - Feng Chen
- Department of Radiology, Hainan General Hospital (Hainan Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University), Hainan Medical University, No. 19, Xiuhua St, Xiuying Dic, Haikou, Hainan, 570311, People's Republic of China.
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