Brain Structure Changes Before and After Trauma-Related Stress

An imaging study before and after the 2011 Japanese earthquake identifies specific brain structural findings that may constitute vulnerability and “scar” effects of subclinical post-traumatic stress.

Twin studies have found small hippocampi to be a possible risk factor for vulnerability to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other studies have identified multiple PTSD-associated, subcortical abnormalities. Yet, no studies have examined people with imaging before and after a trauma. These researchers used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to examine gray-matter volume (GMV) changes in five brain areas in 42 Japanese college students who lived in a city strongly affected by the March 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami. The students had had MRIs 2 years before the quake.

The students had no psychiatric histories at the first MRI. At the second MRI, only five had subclinical PTSD symptoms on the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAP…

Reviewing Author

Peter Roy-Byrne, MD

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Peter Roy-Byrne, MD

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Brain Structure Changes Before and After Trauma-Related Stress

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