Mental Health Research Into PTSD
A form of anxiety disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a diagnosable mental health condition, described by a cluster of symptoms which are a result of traumatic experiences, such as violent attacks, car accidents, childbirth and other medical emergencies, severe neglect and abuse, and witnessing emergency situations.
The signs of PTSD may involve the following symptoms:
- Reliving a traumatic event, often via vivid flashbacks and nightmares
- Panicking when reminded of, or remembering, the trauma
- Feeling ‘on edge’ and alert
- Avoiding feelings and memories of the incident, or feeling numb
- Insomnia
- Concentration difficulties
- Feelings of isolation, irritability and guilt
Your Mental Health Explores PTSD With Expert Knowledge From Leading Mental Health Researchers. Discover Your Mental Health here.
The Role Of Memory
One of the central symptoms of PTSD is a reliving of the traumatic event, often through vivid and detailed flashbacks. Our brains are wired to learn from dangerous situations so that we can avoid them in the future.
During a traumatic event, the brain is flooded with adrenaline, causing it to process at a very high speed in an attempt to take in all of the possible warning signs so we can learn and avoid that situation in the future according to Your Mental Health.
In people with PTSD, the association between what was felt during the event and the danger remains strong. As a result, whenever those sensations are experienced again, on their own or in combination, the individual responds as though a similar traumatic experience is occurring again. The brain kicks in automatically to flag up the warning signs, and it can be difficult to question or fight it.
Intrusive Memories
One hallmark symptom of PTSD is the occurrence of intrusive memories, which are involuntary mental images of the trauma that spring, unwanted, to mind. These images are usually visual, but can have other sensory and emotional elements. Researchers have yet to discover why these memories appear at some moments and not others.
‘These memories that keep returning are not facts or figures – they don’t use verbal language. They are mental images, sensory representations of the world that help the brain encapsulate what happened in that particular moment of danger. By bringing back this instant compressed picture at a time of danger the brain is trying to look after us and say, “Don’t do this again, watch out.” For many people these pictures slowly fade but for a substantial number of people they don’t, and they find it hard to learn that they are safe again.’ - Professor Emily Holmes
Predicting Vulnerability To PTSD
Visualisation
A tendency to think visually has also been proposed as contributing to the development of PTSD. Those with strong visualisation skills are likely to have memories that are more detailed, more intense and potentially more difficult to reframe.
Dwelling
In one study highlighted by MQ Mental Health Research, psychological and personality assessments were made of around 400 paramedics to gain a detailed picture on how they think and behave. Researchers then assessed them for exposure to trauma and PTSD symptoms every four months for two years.
Research, led by Dr Jennifer Wild, an Associate Professor of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford is helping develop PTSD protocol for preventing PTSD in student paramedics. It was found that only one factor, dwelling, predicted PTSD.
The research team developed internet-based support that combines existing therapies for PTSD with new approaches aimed at helping people to stop dwelling on negative thoughts.
“I want people to recognise how harmful “dwelling” is as a thinking style because it’s not actually helping us to solve problems or think more clearly or find a solution. It keeps us in our head and prevents processing, so it’s important that we disengage with it as quickly as possible.” - Professor Jennifer Wild, University of Oxford.
The approach is being evaluated using student paramedics, some of whom will follow the new support programme, while others will use existing online support. Others will receive no special support at all. The results should indicate whether upfront training can prevent depression and PTSD from becoming serious problems.
Genetic Resilience
Some research suggests that the experience of trauma may switch on a resilient gene or group of genes, which means we’re better able to cope with trauma in the future. A review of research in this area by Niitsu (2019) identified six genes associated with psychological resilience.
The researchers stated that there are numerous factors contributing to the difficulty of untangling the complexity of genetic influence on resilience, including assumptions about the mode of inheritance, operationalization of resilience, demographic and population characteristics, sample size, and other types of genetic influence including epistasis and epigenetics. They hope that this systematic review will serve as a useful starting place in an area in need of much further investigation
My Story by Yasar Nassif
From Your Mental Health
Yasar Nassif is a doctor working in the UK, devoting his life to looking after the needs of others. He originally studied medicine in Syria but following the war escaped to the UK with nothing more than a backpack and experienced symptoms of PTSD.
“I grew up in Syria in a nice family with two brothers. My dad owned a private hospital and the plan for me was to study medicine and become a doctor. Then the war started. We kept thinking this isn’t happening, we kept saying Syria is a safe place, but the war got closer and closer.
One day I was driving to the hospital and I passed the last military checkpoint. It was my normal route that I’d drive every day. I saw a few people standing in the street with AK47s and they started shooting at my car. I got hit by shrapnel in my left tibia but I carried on driving. I don’t remember much about the journey to the hospital but I do remember that I had a packet of Tic Tacs in the car and I ate the whole box because I didn’t want to become hypoglycaemic. Even today I hate Tic Tacs – the taste of them and the sound when someone shakes the box.
After moving to the UK Yasar experienced a further distressing experience. “One day I heard the news that there had been an explosion next to my house in Syria. I knew this was the route that my dad took every day to work. I tried to call him but I couldn’t get through, and I couldn’t reach my mum. I started panicking and I couldn’t focus on work. When I tried explaining to the consultant I just started crying. I was so scared and I didn’t know what to do. Everyone at work was very understanding and a few hours later my mum called to tell me my dad was OK. I felt relieved but I still had this constant fear about what might happen next.
I have been very lucky to meet supportive people during my journey. And this has helped me to find meaning in my life again and to cope.”
Read Yasar Nassif’s full story in Your Mental Health.
Treatments And Therapies For PTSD
In most cases of PTSD, psychological therapies are recommended, such as talking therapies or group therapy sessions. There are different psychological therapies used in the treatment of PTSD:
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) or Trauma Focused CBT
This is a type of talking therapy aimed to help you manage symptoms by changing thinking processes and the way you act. CBT sessions are usually between 60 and 90 minutes long and are delivered weekly for a period of 8 to 12 weeks. Read more here.
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing EMDR
EMDR is a type of therapy that involves recalling the traumatic incident in detail while making specific eye movements such as following your therapist’s finger. Read more here.
Medication
Your doctor might also advise a course of medication depending on your symptoms. A particular type of antidepressant called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs have been shown to be effective in treating symptoms of complex PTSD in some people.
For more information on NHS treatments for PTSD, including medication, read more from the NHS here.
As further research identifies risk factors and the role of memory in PTSD, prevention and effective treatments can be further developed to help tackle the condition.
References
MQ Mental Health
To keeping up to date with the latest research on PTSD, follow the research of MQ Mental Health Research here.
Student Paramedic Study
Dr Jennifer Wild. Preventing PTSD, depression and associated health problems in student paramedics: protocol for PREVENT-PTSD, a randomised controlled trial of supported online cognitive training for resilience versus alternative online training and standard practice. https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/8/12/bmjopen-2018-022292
Genetic Resilience Journal
Kosuke Niitsu et al. A Systematic Review of Genetic Influence on Psychological Resilience (sagepub.com)
Your Mental Health
To find out more about PTSD read about the latest in mental health research, read Your Mental Health. Available here.
