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Main article: Stress
2023
How PTSD develops. Scientific explanation
On November 7, 2023, Swiss specialists from the Lausanne Federal Polytechnic School (EPFL) released the results of a study to answer the question of why some people develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after injury, while others do not. This discovery may lead to a more targeted treatment of this disease.
PTSD is a severe mental condition resulting from one or more events that have a super-powerful negative effect on the psyche. This condition is characterized by repeated obsessive memories of what happened. Although many people experience traumatic events, according to statistics, only 25-35% develop PTSD. Understanding the factors that make certain people more susceptible to similar exposures is critical for both prevention and treatment of the ailment.
Scientists from EPFL analyzed how glucocorticoids, the hormones that the body produces in response to stress, affect the development of PTSD: this is, in particular, cortisol, which affects blood pressure levels, the exchange of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. To study how decreased hormonal response to stress might be associated with PTSD symptoms, the researchers used genetically modified rats mimicking people with a blunt response to cortisol.
Experts measured the volume of various regions of the rodents' brains, taught rats to associate the signal with fear, recorded their sleep patterns and measured their brain activity. It turned out that a decrease in sensitivity to glucocorticoids leads to several main signs of vulnerability to post-traumatic stress, including impaired fear extinction (in male rats), decreased hippocampal volume and sleep disorders.
 | Our study provides causal evidence for the direct role of low glucocorticoid sensitivity in the development of PTSD symptomatology after exposure to traumatic experiences, i.e., fear fading disorder, says Carmen Sandi of EPFL.[1] |  |
Smart helmet released to treat PTSD
In late March 2023, the Israeli company GrayMatters Health unveiled an innovative device called Prism for PTSD, designed to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Read more here.
Notes
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