How Disorder-Specific are Depressive Attributions? A Comparison of Individuals with Depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Healthy Controls

Background and Objective:Understanding how trauma impacts the self-structure of individuals suffering from the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms is a complex matter and despite several attempts to explain the relationship between trauma and the “Self”, this issue still lacks clarity. Therefore, adopting a new theoretical perspective may help understand PTSD deeper and to shed light on the underlying psychophysiological mechanisms.Methods:In this study, we employed the “three-dimensional construct model of the experiential selfhood” where three major components of selfhood (phenomenal first-person agency, embodiment, and reflection/narration) are related to three Operational Modules (OMs) of the self-referential brain network. These modules can be reliably estimated through operational synchrony analysis of the Electroencephalogram (EEG). Six individuals with PTSD symptoms and twenty-nine sex-, age- and demographic- (race, education, marital status) matched healthy controls underwent resting state EEG signal acquisition with the following estimation of the synchrony strength within every OM.Results:Our results indicate that subjects with PTSD symptoms had significantly stronger EEG operational synchrony within anterior and right posterior OMs as well as significantly weaker EEG operational synchrony within left posterior OM compared to healthy controls. Moreover, increased the functional integrity of the anterior OM was positively associated with hyperactivity symptoms, reduced synchrony of the left posterior OM was associated with greater avoidance, and increased right posterior OM integrity was positively correlated with intrusion and mood symptoms.Conclusion:The results are interpreted in light of the triad model of selfhood and its theoretical and clinical implications (including a new treatment approach) are discussed.

Download Full-text

Signs of dissociation and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in inflammatory bowel disease. A case-control study

Digestive Diseases ◽

10.1159/000521424 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Daniele Ferrarese ◽

Giorgia Spagnolo ◽

Michele Vecchione ◽

Franco Scaldaferri ◽

Alessandro Armuzzi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Disease Activity ◽

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ◽

Traumatic Stress ◽

Stress Disorder ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Post Traumatic Stress ◽

Dissociative Symptoms ◽

Post Traumatic ◽

Inflammatory Bowel ◽

The Relationship

Background. Several psychological disorders have been described in patients affected by Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Few studies have focused on the relationship between IBD and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and no data are available on the relationship between IBD and dissociative symptoms. Aim of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence of PTSD and dissociative symptoms in a sample of IBD patients compared to healthy controls. A possible relationship with disease activity was also investigated. Methods: A total of 112 IBD patients, 55 Crohn’s disease (CD) and 57 Ulcerative Colitis (UC), and 114 healthy individuals were evaluated. IBD patients were divided into three subgroups according to disease activity (remission, mild, moderate). The revised version of the Impact of Event Scale (IES-R) and the Dissociative Experience Scale (DES) were administered to patients and controls. Results: IBD patients showed significantly higher rates of PTSD and dissociative symptoms compared to healthy controls. No differences were found between CD and UC patients. PTSD and dissociative symptoms were higher among CD patients with mild to moderate-severe activity compared to the remission group. No differences were found among UC patients with different activity levels. Conclusion: IBD patients show a high prevalence of dissociative and traumatic affective disorders. Future studies are needed to investigate the role of these disorders in the clinical course and management of IBD patients according to different disease activity phase.

Download Full-text

Using structural neuroanatomy to identify trauma survivors with and without post-traumatic stress disorder at the individual level

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291713000561 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 44 (1) ◽

pp. 195-203 ◽

Cited By ~ 32

Author(s):

Q. Gong ◽

L. Li ◽

S. Tognin ◽

Q. Wu ◽

W. Pettersson-Yeo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

White Matter ◽

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ◽

Traumatic Stress ◽

Stress Disorder ◽

Trauma Survivors ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Post Traumatic Stress ◽

Individual Level ◽

Post Traumatic ◽

The Individual

BackgroundAt present there are no objective, biological markers that can be used to reliably identify individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This study assessed the diagnostic potential of structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) for identifying trauma-exposed individuals with and without PTSD.MethodsMRI scans were acquired from 50 survivors of the Sichuan earthquake of 2008 who had developed PTSD, 50 survivors who had not developed PTSD and 40 healthy controls who had not been exposed to the earthquake. Support vector machine (SVM), a multivariate pattern recognition technique, was used to develop an algorithm that distinguished between the three groups at an individual level. The accuracy of the algorithm and its statistical significance were estimated using leave-one-out cross-validation and permutation testing.ResultsWhen survivors with PTSD were compared against healthy controls, both grey and white matter allowed discrimination with an accuracy of 91% (p < 0.001). When survivors without PTSD were compared against healthy controls, the two groups could be discriminated with accuracies of 76% (p < 0.001) and 85% (p < 0.001) based on grey and white matter, respectively. Finally, when survivors with and without PTSD were compared directly, grey matter allowed discrimination with an accuracy of 67% (p < 0.001); in contrast the two groups could not be distinguished based on white matter.ConclusionsThese results reveal patterns of neuroanatomical alterations that could be used to inform the identification of trauma survivors with and without PTSD at the individual level, and provide preliminary support to the development of SVM as a clinically useful diagnostic aid.

Download Full-text