Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging
Volume 171, Issue 1 , Pages 44-53 , 30 January 2009

Increased activation of the left hippocampus region in Complex PTSD during encoding and recognition of emotional words: A pilot study

  • Kathleen Thomaes

      Affiliations

    • GGZ Buitenamstel, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    • Department of Psychiatry, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. GGZ Buitenamstel, A. J. Ernststraat 887, 1081 HL Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Tel.: +31 20 7885674; fax: +31 20 7885664.
    • ,
  • Ethy Dorrepaal

      Affiliations

    • GGZ Buitenamstel, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    • ,
  • Nel P.J. Draijer

      Affiliations

    • GGZ Buitenamstel, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    • Department of Psychiatry, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    • ,
  • Michiel B. de Ruiter

      Affiliations

    • AMC Academic Psychiatric Center, AIAR, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    • ,
  • Bernet M. Elzinga

      Affiliations

    • Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
    • ,
  • Anton J. van Balkom

      Affiliations

    • GGZ Buitenamstel, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    • Department of Psychiatry, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    • ,
  • Paulien L.M. Smoor

      Affiliations

    • GGZ Buitenamstel, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    • Department of Psychiatry, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    • ,
  • Johannes Smit

      Affiliations

    • GGZ Buitenamstel, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    • Department of Psychiatry, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    • ,
  • Dick J. Veltman

      Affiliations

    • GGZ Buitenamstel, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    • Department of Psychiatry, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    • AMC Academic Psychiatric Center, AIAR, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Received 11 July 2007 ,Revised 20 December 2007 ,Accepted 4 March 2008.

References 

  1. American Psychiatric Association . Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV—Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR). Washington, DC: APA; 2000;
  2. Ashburner J, Friston KJ. Voxel-based morphometry—the methods. Neuroimage. 2000;11:805–821
  3. Astur RS, St Germain SA, Tolin D, Ford J, Russell D, Stevens M. Hippocampus function predicts severity of post-traumatic stress disorder. Cyberpsychological Behaviour. 2006;9:234–240
  4. Beck AT, Steer RA, Garbin MG. Psychometric properties of the Beck Depression Inventory. Clinical Psychology Review. 1998;42:841–865
  5. Bernstein EM, Putnam FW. Development, reliability, and validity of a dissociation scale. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorders. 1986;174:727–735
  6. Bremner JD, Narayan M, Staib LH, Southwick SM, McGlashan T, Charney DS. Neural correlates of memories of childhood sexual abuse in women with and without posttraumatic stress disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry. 1999;156:1787–1795
  7. Bremner JD, Vythilingam M, Vermetten E, Southwick SM, McGlashan T, Nazeer A, et al. MRI and PET study of deficits in hippocampal structure and function in women with childhood sexual abuse and posttraumatic stress disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry. 2003;160:924–932
  8. Bremner JD, Vythilingam M, Vermetten E, Southwick SM, McGlashan T, Staib LH, et al. Neural correlates of declarative memory for emotionally valenced words in women with posttraumatic stress disorder related to early childhood sexual abuse. Biological Psychiatry. 2003;53:879–889
  9. Bremner JD, Vythilingam M, Vermetten E, Vaccarino V, Charney DS. Deficits in hippocampal and anterior cingulate functioning during verbal declarative memory encoding in midlife major depression. American Journal of Psychiatry. 2004;161:637–645
  10. Breslau N, Kessler RC, Chilcoat HD, Schultz LR, Davis GC, Andreski P. Trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder in the community: the 1996 Detroit Area Survey of Trauma. Archives of General Psychiatry. 1998;55:626–632
  11. Chemtob CM, Roitblat HL, Hamada RS, Muraoka MY, Carlson JG, Bauer GB. Compelled attention: the effects of viewing trauma-related stimuli on concurrent task performance in posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Traumatic Stress. 1999;12:309–326
  12. Davidson JR, Book SW, Colket JT, Tupler LA, Roth S, David D, et al. Assessment of a new self-rating scale for post-traumatic stress disorder. Psychological Medicine. 1997;27:153–160
  13. de Ruiter, M.B., Veltman, D.J., Phaf, R.H., van Dyck, R., 2007. Negative words enhance recognition in nonclinical high dissociators: an fMRI study. Neuroimage 37, 323–334.
  14. Derogatis LR, Lipman RS, Covi L. SCL-90: an outpatient psychiatric rating scale—preliminary report. Psychopharmacology Bulletin. 1973;9:13–28
  15. Draijer N. Structured Trauma Interview. Amsterdam: Free University, Department of Psychiatry; 1989;
  16. Draijer N. Sexual Traumatization in Childhood. Long-term Impact of Sexual Abuse of Girls. Amsterdam: SUA; 1990;
  17. Driessen M, Herrmann J, Stahl K, Zwaan M, Meier S, Hill A, et al. Magnetic resonance imaging volumes of the hippocampus and the amygdala in women with borderline personality disorder and early traumatization. Archives of General Psychiatry. 2000;57:1115–1122
  18. Driessen M, Beblo T, Mertens M, Piefke M, Rullkoetter N, Silva-Saavedra A, et al. Posttraumatic stress disorder and fMRI activation patterns of traumatic memory in patients with borderline personality disorder. Biological Psychiatry. 2004;55:603–611
  19. Elzinga BM, Bremner JD. Are the neural substrates of memory the final common pathway in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)?. Journal of Affective Disorders. 2002;70:1–17
  20. Ehling T, Nijenhuis ER, Krikke AP. Volume of discrete brain structures in complex dissociative disorders: preliminary findings. Progress in Brain Research. 2007;167:307–310
  21. First MB, Spitzer RL, Williams JBW, Gibbon M. Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV diagnoses (SCID-I). Washington, DC: APA; 1995;
  22. Francati V, Vermetten E, Bremner JD. Functional neuroimaging studies in posttraumatic stress disorder: review of current methods and findings. Depression and Anxiety. 2007;24:202–218
  23. Ford JD, Stockton P, Kaltman S, Green BL. Disorders of extreme stress (DESNOS) symptoms are associated with type and severity of interpersonal trauma exposure in a sample of healthy young women. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 2006;21:1399–1416
  24. Freeman T, Kimbrell T, Booe L, Myers M, Cardwell D, Lindquist DM, et al. Evidence of resilience: neuroimaging in former prisoners of war. Psychiatry Research Neuroimaging. 2006;146:59–64
  25. Golier JA, Yehuda R, De Santi S, Segal S, Dolan S, de Leon MJ. Absence of hippocampal volume differences in survivors of the Nazi Holocaust with and without posttraumatic stress disorder. Psychiatric Research Neuroimaging. 2005;139:53–64
  26. Green BL, Goodman LA, Krupnick JL, Corcoran CB, Petty RM, Stockton P, et al. Outcomes of single versus multiple trauma exposure in a screening sample. Journal of Traumatic Stress. 2000;13:271–286
  27. Heim C, Newport DJ, Wagner D, Wilcox MM, Miller AH, Nemeroff CB. The role of early adverse experience and adulthood stress in the prediction of neuroendocrine stress reactivity in women: a multiple regression analysis. Depression and Anxiety. 2002;15:117–125
  28. Herman JL. Complex PTSD: a syndrome in survivors of prolonged and repeated trauma. Journal of Traumatic Stress. 1992;5:377–391
  29. Höing M. Hulp aan slachtoffers van seksueel geweld. Delft: Eburon; 2003;
  30. Jatzko A, Rothenhofer S, Schmitt A, Gaser C, Demirakca T, Weber-Fahr W, et al. Hippocampal volume in chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD): MRI study using two different evaluation methods. Journal of Affective Disorders. 2006;94:121–126
  31. Jenkins MA, Langlais PJ, Delis D, Cohen R. Learning and memory in rape victims with posttraumatic stress disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry. 1998;155:278–279
  32. Karl A, Schaefer M, Malta LS, Dorfel D, Rohleder N, Werner A. A meta-analysis of structural brain abnormalities in PTSD. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. 2006;30:1004–1031
  33. Kensinger EA, Schacter DL. Retrieving accurate and distorted memories: neuroimaging evidence for effects of emotion. Neuroimage. 2005;27:167–177
  34. Lanius RA, Williamson PC, Hopper J, Densmore M, Boksman K, Gupta MA, et al. Recall of emotional states in posttraumatic stress disorder: an fMRI investigation. Biological Psychiatry. 2003;53:204–210
  35. McNally RJ. Cognitive abnormalities in post-traumatic stress disorder. Trends in Cognitive Science. 2006;10:271–277
  36. Pfohl N, Zimmerman M. Structured Interview for DSM-IV Personality (SIDP-IV). Washington, DC.: American Psychiatric Press; 1997;
  37. Rauch SL, Shin LM, Phelps EA. Neurocircuitry models of posttraumatic stress disorder and extinction: human neuroimaging research—past, present, and future. Biological Psychiatry. 2006;60:376–382
  38. Rolls ET, Kesner RP. A computational theory of hippocampal function, and empirical tests of the theory. Progress in Neurobiology. 2006;79:1–48
  39. Sapolsky RM. Glucocorticoids and hippocampal atrophy in neuropsychiatric disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry. 2000;57:925–935
  40. Shin LM, Whalen PJ, Pitman RK, Bush G, Macklin ML, Lasko NB, et al. An fMRI study of anterior cingulate function in posttraumatic stress disorder. Biological Psychiatry. 2001;50:932–942
  41. Shin LM, Shin PS, Heckers S, Krangel TS, Macklin ML, Orr SP, et al. Hippocampal function in posttraumatic stress disorder. Hippocampus. 2004;14:292–300
  42. Stein MB, Koverola C, Hanna C, Torchia MG, McClarty B. Hippocampal volume in women victimized by childhood sexual abuse. Psychological Medicine. 1997;27:951–959
  43. Steinberg M, Rounsaville B, Cicchetti DV. The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R Dissociative Disorders: preliminary report on a new diagnostic instrument. American Journal of Psychiatry. 1990;147:76–82
  44. Sutker PB, Allain AN, Johnson JL, Butters NM. Memory and learning performances in POW survivors with history of malnutrition and combat veteran controls. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology. 1992;7:431–444
  45. Terr LC. Childhood traumas: an outline and overview. American Journal of Psychiatry. 1991;148:10–20
  46. Van der Kolk, B.A., Pelcovitz, D., Herman, J.L., Roth, S., Kaplan, S., Spitzer, R.L., 1992. The Disorders of Extreme Stress Inventory Unpublished measure.
  47. Van Der Kolk BA, Pelcovitz D, Roth S, Mandel FS, McFarlane A, Herman JL. Dissociation, somatization, and affect dysregulation: the complexity of adaptation of trauma. American Journal of Psychiatry. 1996;153:83–93
  48. Vasterling JJ, Brailey K, Constans JI, Sutker PB. Attention and memory dysfunction in posttraumatic stress disorder. Neuropsychology. 1998;12:125–133
  49. Vermetten E, Schmahl C, Lindner S, Loewenstein RJ, Bremner JD. Hippocampal and amygdalar volumes in dissociative identity disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry. 2006;163:630–636
  50. Videbech P, Ravnkilde B. Hippocampal volume and depression: a meta-analysis of MRI studies. American Journal of Psychiatry. 2004;161:1957–1966
  51. Videbech P, Ravnkilde B, Pedersen TH, Hartvig H, Egander A, Clemmensen K, et al. The Danish PET/depression project: clinical symptoms and cerebral blood flow. A regions-of-interest analysis. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavia. 2002;106:35–44
  52. Vythilingam M, Heim C, Newport J, Miller AH, Anderson E, Bronen R, et al. Childhood trauma associated with smaller hippocampal volume in women with major depression. American Journal of Psychiatry. 2002;159:2072–2080
  53. Wittmann BC, Schott BH, Guderian S, Frey JU, Heinze HJ, Duzel E. Reward-related FMRI activation of dopaminergic midbrain is associated with enhanced hippocampus-dependent long-term memory formation. Neuron. 2005;45:459–467
  54. Yehuda R, Golier JA, Tischler L, Harvey PD, Newmark R, Yang RK, et al. Hippocampal volume in aging combat veterans with and without post-traumatic stress disorder: relation to risk and resilience factors. Journal of Psychiatric Research. 2007;41:435–445
  55. Zlotnick C, Zakriski AL, Shea MT, Costello E, Begin A, Pearlstein T, et al. The long-term sequelae of sexual abuse: support for a complex posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Traumatic Stress. 1996;9:195–205

PII: S0925-4927(08)00045-0

doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2008.03.003

Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging
Volume 171, Issue 1 , Pages 44-53 , 30 January 2009

Article Tools

* Image Usage & Resolution