This study addressed knowledge gaps about post-traumatic stress disorder in mid-age and older adults, with particular attention to the relationship of PTSD with nutrition and with ethnicity and immigrant status.
The researchers used actigraphy sleep metrics to quantify diurnal rhythms via interdaily stability, intradaily variability, relative amplitude, and sleep regularity.
Chronic exposure to stressors leads to an erosion of health, as measured by allostatic load, which is particularly severe among foreign-born Black and Latino individuals.
While trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy is an important component of evidence-based treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder, the efficacy of treatment can vary between individuals. It is thought that some of this variability is derived from interindividual differences in the brain’s intrinsic response to trauma-related stimuli and in activity of executive functional regions. The authors of this study sought to characterize these differences using a functional MRI in patients about to undergo CBT for PTSD.
There is a need for better understanding of factors that influence stress response as little progress has been made to effectively reduce stress responses. Evidence suggests that diet may be a factor in modifying the effects of stress.
By combining targeted intracerebral microinfusions with cardiovascular and behavioral monitoring in marmosets, we show that overactivation of sgACC/25 reduces vagal tone and heart rate variability, alters cortisol dynamics during stress and heightens reactivity to proximal and distal threat.
Given the interactions of sleep with learning and memory, researchers hypothesized that increasing sleep duration following trauma exposure would restore overall function and improve trauma-induced fear-associated memory dysfunction.
This study provides evidence that the disruption of protein synthesis in discrete inhibitory neuron subpopulations in the centrolateral amygdala impairs associative memories related to threat and safety, which may contribute to maladaptive behavior in memory disorders such as PTSD.
Determining the frequency of maladaptive daydreaming in a sample of psychiatric inpatients with high levels of dissociation.
Over half of the sample attained opioids through their own prescription, and 47.2% of patients with co-occurring sedative use disorder attained sedatives by prescription.
