Dataset Information

Reduced Salience and Enhanced Central Executive Connectivity Following PTSD Treatment.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:In soldiers with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), symptom provocation was found to induce increased connectivity within the salience network, as measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and global brain connectivity with global signal regression (GBCr). However, it is unknown whether these GBCr disturbances would normalize following effective PTSD treatment. METHODS:69 US Army soldiers with (n = 42) and without PTSD (n = 27) completed fMRI at rest and during symptom provocation using subject-specific script imagery. Then, participants with PTSD received 6 weeks (12 sessions) of group cognitive processing therapy (CPT) or present-centered therapy (PCT). At week 8, all participants repeated the fMRI scans. The primary analysis used a region-of-interest approach to determine the effect of treatment on salience GBCr. A secondary analysis was conducted to explore the pattern of GBCr alterations posttreatment in PTSD participants compared to controls. RESULTS:Over the treatment period, PCT significantly reduced salience GBCr (p = .02). Compared to controls, salience GBCr was high pretreatment (PCT, p = .01; CPT, p = .03) and normalized post-PCT (p = .53), but not post-CPT (p = .006). Whole-brain secondary analysis found high GBCr within the central executive network in PTSD participants compared to controls. Post hoc exploratory analyses showed significant increases in executive GBCr following CPT treatment (p = .01). CONCLUSION:The results support previous models relating CPT to central executive network and enhanced cognitive control while unraveling a previously unknown neurobiological mechanism of PCT treatment, demonstrating treatment-specific reduction in salience connectivity during trauma recollection.

SUBMITTER: Abdallah CG

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6469713 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan-Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Reduced Salience and Enhanced Central Executive Connectivity Following PTSD Treatment.

Abdallah Chadi G CG Averill Christopher L CL Ramage Amy E AE Averill Lynnette A LA Alkin Evelyn E Nemati Samaneh S Krystal John H JH Roache John D JD Resick Patricia P Young-McCaughan Stacey S Peterson Alan L AL Fox Peter P

Chronic stress (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) 20190101

<h4>Background</h4>In soldiers with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), symptom provocation was found to induce increased connectivity within the salience network, as measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (<i>f</i>MRI) and global brain connectivity with global signal regression (GBCr). However, it is unknown whether these GBCr disturbances would normalize following effective PTSD treatment.<h4>Methods</h4>69 US Army soldiers with (n = 42) and without PTSD (n = 27) completed <i>f</i ...[more]

PMID: 31008419

Similar Datasets

Project description:Among the different therapeutic alternatives for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy have shown promising results in helping patients cope with PTSD symptoms. However, given the different theoretical and methodological substrate of TF-CBT and EMDR, a potentially different impact on the brain for the two interventions could be hypothesized, as well as an interaction between trauma-specific PTSD symptomatology and response to a given psychotherapy. In this study, we monitored psychological and spontaneous functional connectivity fMRI patterns in two groups of PTSD patients who suffered by the same traumatic event (i.e., natural disaster), before and after a cycle of psychotherapy sessions based on TF-CBT and EMDR. Thirty-seven (37) PTSD patients were enrolled from a larger sample of people exposed to a single, acute psychological stress (i.e., 2002 earthquake in San Giuliano di Puglia, Italy). Patients were randomly assigned to TF-CBT (n = 14) or EMDR (n = 17) psychotherapy. Clinical assessment was performed using the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS), the Davidson Trauma Scale (DTS) and the Work and Social Adjustment Scale (WSAS), both at baseline and after treatment. All patients underwent a fMRI data acquisition session before and after treatment, aimed at characterizing their functional connectivity (FC) profile at rest, as well as potential connectivity changes associated with the clinical impact of psychotherapy. Both EMDR and TF-CBT induced statistically significant changes in clinical scores, with no difference in the clinical impact of the two treatments. Specific changes in FC correlated with the improvement at the different clinical scores, and differently for EMDR and TF-CBT. However, a similarity in the connectivity changes associated with changes in CAPS in both groups was also observed. Specifically, changes at CAPS in the entire sample correlated with an (i) increase in connectivity between the bilateral superior medial frontal gyrus and right temporal pole, and a (ii) decrease in connectivity between left cuneus and left temporal pole. Results point to a similar, beneficial psychological impact of EMDR and TF-CBT for treatment of natural-disaster PTSD patients. Neuroimaging data suggest a similar neurophysiological substrate for clinical improvement following EMDR and TF-CBT, involving changes affecting bilateral temporal pole connectivity.

Dataset Information

Reduced Salience and Enhanced Central Executive Connectivity Following PTSD Treatment.

Publications

Reduced Salience and Enhanced Central Executive Connectivity Following PTSD Treatment.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets