title: Cortical Excitability and Agressive Behavior in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hyperarousal and alertness play an important role in the clinical presentation of Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Strenuous effort has been made to shed light on the mechanisms that cause these symptoms of patients. Based on the claim that there is a relationship between some subtypes of hyperarousal symptoms and aggression in patients with PTSD, we aimed to examine the relationship between electrophysiological measurements that was measured through transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and aggression scale scores of PTSD patients in this study.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study included 37 patients with a diagnosis of PTSD according to DSM-IV criteria and 25 healthy volunteers. Electrophysiological measurements of participants were made with TMS. The Buss Perry Aggression Questionnaires was administered to patients and control group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the patient group, a positive correlation was found between scores of aggression and arousal symptoms. Motor excitability threshold, one of TMS measurements, which is a sign of cortical excitability, was significantly lower in the patient group than the control group. There was a negative correlation between aggression scale scores and the parameters of motor excitability threshold and cortical silent period which both shows cortical excitability of the patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We concluded that there was an increase in cortical excitability in PTSD patients and we suggest that this increase might be associated with hyperarousal symptoms and aggressive behavior.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Aircrew Health Research and Training Center, Eskişehir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Abdullah
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bolu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Gülhane Military Medical Academy, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Adem
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Balikci
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Gülhane Military Medical Academy, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Murat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Erdem
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Gülhane Military Medical Academy, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Taner
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Öznur
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Gülhane Military Medical Academy, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Cemil
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Çelik
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Gülhane Military Medical Academy, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Özcan
authors.initials: Ö
authors.lastname: Uzun
keywords: Aggression; PTSD; TMS; cortical excitability