title: Early affective processing in patients with acute posttraumatic stress disorder: magnetoencephalographic correlates.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In chronic PTSD, a preattentive neural alarm system responds rapidly to emotional information, leading to increased prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation at early processing stages (<100 ms). Enhanced PFC responses are followed by a reduction in occipito-temporal activity during later processing stages. However, it remains unknown if this neuronal pattern is a result of a long lasting mental disorder or if it represents changes in brain function as direct consequences of severe trauma.
  
  
  METHODS
  The present study investigates early fear network activity in acutely traumatized patients with PTSD. It focuses on the question whether dysfunctions previously observed in chronic PTSD patients are already present shortly after trauma exposure. We recorded neuromagnetic activity towards emotional pictures in seven acutely traumatized PTSD patients between one and seven weeks after trauma exposure and compared brain responses to a balanced healthy control sample. Inverse modelling served for mapping sources of differential activation in the brain.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared to the control group, acutely traumatized PTSD patients showed an enhanced PFC response to high-arousing pictures between 60 to 80 ms. This rapid prefrontal hypervigilance towards arousing pictorial stimuli was sustained during 120-300 ms, where it was accompanied by a reduced affective modulation of occipito-temporal neural processing.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings indicate that the hypervigilance-avoidance pattern seen in chronic PTSD is not necessarily a product of an endured mental disorder, but arises as an almost immediate result of severe traumatisation. Thus, traumatic experiences can influence emotion processing strongly, leading to long-lasting changes in trauma network activation and expediting a chronic manifestation of maladaptive cognitive and behavioral symptoms.
authors: Department of Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Münster, Münster, Germany.
authors: Markus
authors: M
authors: Burgmer
authors: Maimu Alissa
authors: MA
authors: Rehbein
authors: Marco
authors: M
authors: Wrenger
authors: Judith
authors: J
authors: Kandil
authors: Gereon
authors: G
authors: Heuft
authors: Christian
authors: C
authors: Steinberg
authors: Bettina
authors: B
authors: Pfleiderer
authors: Markus
authors: M
authors: Junghöfer
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004644:Emotions; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015225:Magnetoencephalography; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D014796:Visual Perception
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