ANI | Updated: December 4, 2022 at 2:30 PM IST
Washington [US], Dec 4 (ANI): More than 70% of adults will experience at least one traumatic experience, such as a life-threatening illness or accident, violent assault or natural disaster, in their lifetime and nearly a third will experience four or more. according to global data. While some people who have experienced trauma make a full recovery, others struggle to find lasting relief. New research from CU Boulder published this week in the journal Molecular Psychiatry sheds new light on why this might be. Researchers found that inescapable stressors affect behavior. and brain differently to stressors that can be controlled, contributing to more widespread and long-lasting anxiety-like behavior. The study, conducted in mice, also implicates a specific type of brain cell, glutamate cells in the “ventral tegmental area (VTA),” as a key player underlying the impact of stressors.
“Understanding how stressful experiences shape our brains is critical to developing new treatments and therapies that can counteract these changes,” said co-lead author Michael Baratta, assistant professor of behavioral neuroscience at CU Boulder. “This study reveals that a little-known population of cells in the brain’s reward center is critical for generating the negative consequences of exposure to stress.” Traumatic experiences, the authors point out, can lead to a wide range of negative consequences. Some people experience “associative” responses, meaning external thoughts, feelings or reminders such as people, places or things related to the original trauma can cause anxiety and fear. For example, a war veteran might cringe at the sound of a car being fired or fireworks. Others experience “non-associative” responses, a general aversion to stimuli, including those unrelated to the initial trauma. These types of responses can permeate many aspects of life and be more difficult to deal with. Scientists theorize that associative and non-associative responses to stress may be driven by different circuits in the brain. But standard treatments like exposure therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy tend to address only associative responses. To better address trauma-related disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD, which affects 8% of American adults, many believe the two circuits must be targeted. , Baratta said. (ANI)