According to the largest prospective study of its kind, people who were exposed to potentially dangerous scenarios and who had lower hippocampal activity had more severe posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in the days and weeks that followed the event.

This relationship between decreased hippocampal activity and the chance of developing PTSD was especially apparent in people who had more defensive reflexive reflexes to being startled.

According to this study, which was published in the journal Neurosci, those who react more defensively to potentially dangerous occurrences may find it more difficult to determine whether an event is risky or not. They are also more likely to experience severe forms of PTSD, which include symptoms like being constantly alert for danger, engaging in self-destructive behaviour like binge drinking or speeding, having trouble falling asleep and staying awake, being irritable, having angry outbursts, and having nightmares.

According to senior author Vishnu Murty, PhD, assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience at Temple University, “these findings are important both to identify specific brain responses associated with vulnerability to develop PTSD, and to identify potential treatments focused on memory processes for these individuals to prevent or treat PTSD.”

The national Advancing Understanding of Recovery after Trauma (AURORA) Study, a collaboration between multiple institutions, is financed by the National Institutes of Health, charitable foundations like One Mind, and partnerships with top technology firms. Samuel McLean, MD, MPH, head of the UNC Institute for Trauma Recovery and professor of psychiatry and emergency medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, serves as the organising primary investigator.

Researchers can use data from patient participants who visit emergency rooms at hospitals around the nation after suffering trauma from vehicle accidents or other traumatic situations thanks to AURORA. AURORA’s main objective is to promote the creation and evaluation of preventive and therapeutic interventions for people who have endured traumatic situations.

Only a small percentage of trauma survivors get PTSD, which is linked to greater sensitivity to danger and a reduced capacity to activate neuronal pathways that retrieve emotional memories, according to AURORA scientists. However, it is unclear how these two processes interact to raise the chance of getting PTSD. Murty and colleagues studied the brain and behavioural reactions of people two weeks after trauma to better understand these processes.

Researchers discovered that the individuals with the most defensive reactions to startling events following trauma had the least activity in their hippocampus and the least activity in their hippocampus, along with laboratory and survey-based assessments for trauma.

According to Busra Tanriverdi, the study’s principal researcher and a doctoral student at Temple University, “among these people, increased defensive reactions to dangers may bias them against learning information about what is happening so that they can determine what is safe and what is harmful.” These findings point to a crucial PTSD biomarker that is concerned with how survivors of trauma create and recall memories.

According to McLean, an author on the publication, “these most recent findings add to our list of AURORA discoveries that are aiding us in understanding the differences between people who go on to acquire posttraumatic stress disorder and those who do not.” Studies that concentrate on the immediate aftermath of trauma are crucial because they help us better understand how PTSD manifests itself and how to prevent and cure it.

According to Brandon Staglin, president of One Mind, “Since beginning our financial support of the AURORA Study in 2016, we remain steadfast in our commitment to helping AURORA investigators make significant discoveries and to bridge the gaps that exist in mental health research funding and patient support.”

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