Grey matter density changes of structures involved in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after recovery following Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy.

Recovery of stress-induced structural alterations in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) remains largely unexplored. This study aimed to determine whether symptoms improvement is associated with grey matter (GM) density changes of brain structures involved in PTSD. Two groups of PTSD patients were involved in this study. The first group was treated with Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy and recovered from their symptoms (recovery group) (n = 11); Patients were scanned prior to therapy (T1), one week (T2) and five months after the end of therapy (T3). The second group included patients which followed a supportive therapy and remained symptomatic (wait-list group) (n = 7). They were scanned at three time-steps mimicking the same inter-scan intervals. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used to characterize GM density evolution. GM density values showed a significant group-by-time interaction effect between T1 and T3 in prefrontal cortex areas. These interaction effects were driven by a GM density increase in the recovery group with respect to the wait-list group. Symptoms removal goes hand-in-hand with GM density enhancement of structures involved in emotional regulation.

Amygdala activity correlates with attentional bias in PTSD.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder arising in the aftermath of a traumatic event. The most prevalent hypothesis is that of an increased amygdala activity to threat cues. The amygdala has also shown an implication in orienting attention toward threat. The aim of the study was to explore the correlations between amygdala activity, symptom severity and attentional bias in PTSD. Patients and healthy controls were assayed on an fMRI emotional face matching task and an attentional detection of target (DOT) task. The amygdala showed enhanced activity in PTSD (vs. controls). It positively correlated with anxiety scores and PTSD symptomatology. It also positively correlated with the disengagement index. Mostly, these results provide preliminary support for an implication of the amygdala in attention orientation to threat in PTSD. These results are further discussed in light of recent theories concerned with cortico-limbic functioning.