Psyc

The Physiological Effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Abstract

Over the past few decades, neuroimaging has been able to show us how Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder can change certain structures of the brain. The three central areas that are affected include the amygdalae, medial prefrontal cortex and the hippocampi. It has been discovered in those suffering with PTSD, that they exhibit a hyperactive amygdala, hypoactive medial prefrontal cortex, and a shrunken hippocampus. Now that there is more information about the physical changes that happen in the brain, this could possibly help in how PTSD is treated in the clinical setting.

The Physiological Effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a common psychological disorder caused by traumatic events in a person’s life. Neurobiological definitions characterize PTSD as a “stress induced fear circuitry disorder” (Shin & Handwerger, 2009). Over the past few decades, more research has been devoted to identifying the exact structures of the brain that are affected by Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The areas of interest that will be discussed in this paper include: over activation of the amygdalae, shrunken hippocampi, and decreased inhibition of the medial prefrontal cortex.

The first structure of interest is the amygdala. The amygdala regulates emotions, and is also responsible for the body’s stress response. In PTSD, the system is overwhelmed, over stimulating the amygdala, which responds to certain transmitters that include norepinephrine and epinephrine (Krippner, Pitchford, & Davies,2012). In PTSD, a defect in medial prefrontal cortex function impairs the amygdala inhibition, resulting in an over reactive amygdala (Rauch, Shin & Phelps, 2006). This over active amygdala is what causes the well-known side effect of hyper-vigilantism.

As already mentioned above, another structure that is affected by PTSD is the medial prefrontal cortex. The...