Structural and functional neuroplasticity in posttraumatic stress disorder: fear learning and context processing

Siehl, Sebastian

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URL:	https://madoc.bib.uni-mannheim.de/59372
URN:	urn:nbn:de:bsz:180-madoc-593722
Dokumenttyp:	Dissertation
Erscheinungsjahr:	2021
Ort der Veröffentlichung:	Mannheim
Hochschule:	Universität Mannheim
Gutachter:	Krüger, Frank
Datum der mündl. Prüfung:	20 April 2021
Sprache der Veröffentlichung:	Englisch
Einrichtung:	Außerfakultäre Einrichtungen > GESS - CDSS (SOWI)
Lizenz:	Creative Commons Namensnennung 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Fachgebiet:	150 Psychologie
Freie Schlagwörter (Englisch):	posttraumatic stress disorder , neuroplasticity , context processing , white matter , gray matter , fMRI , VR
Abstract:	In this thesis, structural and functional brain differences are investigated in three studies between patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and healthy trauma (TC) or non-trauma exposed (HC) control subjects and results are discussed within a common psychobiological model of PTSD. In this work, we provide a meta-analysis including 30 studies with 1,700 participants on structural white matter differences, investigate white and gray matter alterations in PTSD (154 subjects) and examine behavioral and psychophysiological alterations during contextual fear processing using virtual reality in a functional magnetic resonance imaging study (63 subjects). In summary, this work suggests that patients with PTSD show alterations in structural and functional brain activity that can both be associated to fear learning and context processing. Our work proposes above all that lower volume and activity within the prefrontal cortex in combination with functional alterations in the hippocampi can be associated with deficient contextual fear processing.