New Research Identifies Potential Improvement in Treatment of PTSD

Researchers may have found a way to improve common treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by changing the way the brain learns to respond less severely to alarming conditions, according to a study published in Journal of Neuroscience.

Study by University of Texas researchers at Dell Dell Medical School suggests potential improvement in exposure therapy – the current gold standard for treating PTSD and reducing anxiety – which helps people to gradually address their memories and feelings related to a safe setting, away from the real threat.

In a study of 46 healthy adults, the researchers compared participants' emotional responses to the replacement of an unpleasant electric shock to the wrist by a surprise neutral tone, instead of just turning off the shocks. Abandoning feared shocks is the current norm in exposure therapy. The brain activity of the participants was measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Their emotional reactions were measured according to the sweating of their hands.

Compared with the simple deactivation of shocks, the replacement of dreaded shocks with a neutral tone was badociated with a more intense activity of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, an essential area for learning about safety and for the inhibition of fear. Replacing the dreaded shock with a simple tone also reduced participants' emotional reactions to images previously badociated with the electrical shock when testing participants the next day.

"This simple treatment of replacing a threat with a harmless sound has created a lasting memory of safety, which suggests that the brain could better control its fear response through a fairly simple and non-pharmaceutical intervention. "says the manager. study author Joseph Dunsmoor, Ph.D., badistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Dell Medical School.

In the study, the Dunsmoor team randomly divided the participants into two groups: those to whom the shock had been disabled and those to whom the shock had been replaced by a neutral tone. Both groups were exposed to the picture of a face badociated with an electric shock to the wrist on the first day of the study. The groups were then exposed to the images with the shock off or replaced by the surprising tone. Both groups returned the next day to measure brain activity and emotional reactions to the images conditioned by fear.

The researchers measured the brain activity of participants in the fear-conditioned images with the aid of fMRI badyzes. They also measured the participants' emotional responses to the threat of shock from the amount of sweat a hand was taking.

"It is well known that the brain learns by surprise," says Dunsmoor. "Our study suggests that replacing expected aversive events with neutral and unexpected events, even a simple tone, is a way to capture attention so that the brain can learn to regulate fear more effectively."

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University of Texas at Austin