Why We Don't All React to Trauma the Same Way

The answer might include genetic influences and an adrenergic–amygdala–insula connection.

Individuals have varying abilities to recall significant, or stressful, events. Researchers have found that a deletion variant of the gene encoding for the α2b-adrenoreceptor (ADRA2B) enhances emotional memory in healthy controls and in individuals who had traumatic experiences during the Rwandan civil war. The same study group has now examined the neuroanatomical localization for enhanced emotional memory.

The investigators used functional MRI to examine amygdala activity in 57 subjects as they looked at pictures with neutral or emotional content (mean age, 24; 16 men; 30 participants heterozygous or homozygous for the ADRA2B deletion variant). All participants showed higher amygdala activity while looking at emotional versus neutral pictur…

Reviewing Author

Jonathan Silver, MD

Disclosures

RoyaltiesTextbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd and 3rd editions

Editorial BoardsUpToDate; Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesNorth American Brain Injury Association (Board Member); National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (Chair of Data Monitoring Safety Board for study of donepezil on cognition after traumatic brain injury)

Jonathan Silver, MD

Disclosures

RoyaltiesTextbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd and 3rd editions

Editorial BoardsUpToDate; Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience

Why We Don't All React to Trauma the Same Way

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Reviewing Author