Project Details
Projekt
Change of Neural Network Indicators through Narrative Treatment of PTSD in Torture Victims
Applicant
Professor Dr. Frank Neuner
Subject Area
Personality Psychology, Clinical and Medical Psychology, Methodology
Term
from 2006 to 2012
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 23057254
Current theories of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) explain the symptoms of this disorder on the basis of pathological memory representations of the traumatic event. According to these theories there are two different pathological representations of the traumatic event. The fear structure is an associative neural network connecting the sensory, emotional and physical features of the traumatic situation. On the other hand there is a disorganized and incomprehensive representation of the traumatic event in autobiographical memory. Posttraumatic intrusions result from an uncontrolled activity of the fear structure when a person is reminded of the event. The lack of adequate temporal and spatial context information caused by the fragmented autobiographical representation prevents a cortical regulation and inhibition of the fear structure. Treatment of PTSD generally involves talking about the traumatic event in detail. It is unclear whether this process acts upon the fear structure or on autobiographical memory. The goal of the project is to test the hypothesis that treatment-facilitated recovery does not change the original fear structure but establishes an inhibitory mechanism that depends on verbal activity. An affective visual steady-state paradigm in magnetencephalography (MEG) using positive, aversive and neutral picture stimuli will be used to examine the spatial and temporal pattern of the processing of emotional stimuli. To examine the effects of treatment this paradigm will be used as outcome measure within a randomized controlled trial of Narrative Exposure Therapy and a waitinglist control condition for severely traumatized torture victims.
DFG Programme
Research Units
