Steroid hormone levels in posttraumatic stress disorder: Examination of long-term endocrine alterations in a cross-sectional and a therapy evaluation design

• Applicant: Dr. Tobias Stalder
• Subject Area: Personality Psychology, Clinical and Medical Psychology, Methodology
• Term: from 2013 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 237755525

Over the past decade, evidence has increasingly emerged suggesting links between altered activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the pathophysiology and treatment-response of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While most of this research has suggested a general hypocortisolism in PTSD patients with a long time interval since traumatisation, specific findings of this research have been characterised by some inconsistency. Amongst other things, this may be due to limitations in the measurement of long-term cortisol secretion using previous methods. The assessment of cortisol levels in hair for the first time provides a valid index of cumulative hormone secretion over time periods of several months and thus opens up important new perspectives for research into the neuroendocrine correlates of PTSD. The current research project aims to provide a detailed investigation of long-term endocrine correlates and therapy-induced changes of PTSD. For this, the novel method of hair cortisol analysis is applied within a longitudinal therapy evaluation study with a nested cross-sectional element. At baseline, detailed endocrine assessments of PTSD patients are compared with respective data of both (i) healthy, non-traumatised controls as well as (ii) healthy, traumatised controls without psychiatric morbidity. In addition, a pre-post control group design is used to examine intraindividual changes in cumulative hair steroid levels over the course of a cognitive behavioural therapy treatment. Results of this research are believed to significantly extend current fundamental knowledge regarding the psychoendocrinology of traumatisation and PTSD as well as to inform future research into innovative treatment approaches.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Participating Person: Professor Dr. Jürgen Hoyer