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A new brain imaging study shows that traumatic memories use different neural paths than normal memories. This shows that they work as vivid pieces of a current event rather than processed past memories. Findings from the study help us understand how traumatic memories stay with us for a long time. They shed light on why they keep coming back as flashbacks and night terrors, which are common symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Study co-author Daniela Schiller from Mount Sinai's Icahn School of Medicine remarked, "The brain doesn't appear to be in a state of memory; rather, it seems to be in a state of present experience." The research team utilized MRI scans to observe PTSD patients while they listened to pre-recorded audio featuring their own traumatic memories.
In contrast to ordinary autobiographical memories, traumatic memories failed to activate the hippocampus - the area responsible for memory consolidation that places recollections into context. Instead, trauma activated the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), a region governing introspection normally disengaged during memory recall.
“Traumatic memories are not experienced as memories as such,” concluded lead study author Ilan Harpaz-Rotem of Yale University, but rather as “fragments of prior events, subjugating the present moment.” The findings may help explain why seemingly minor sensory stimuli like firecrackers can trigger full-blown trauma responses in PTSD patients years later.
Clinicians confirmed it often appears victims mentally transport back into past traumas when recollection is triggered, reliving them as unfolding now rather than accessing memories of distressing events that already occurred. “Traumatic memories are not remembered, they are relived and re-experienced,” said University of Western Ontario trauma expert Ruth Lanius.
While verifying empirically that traumatic memories follow distinct neurological pathways represents a major contribution, some experts disputed whether the findings directly validate modern therapeutic approaches. Treatments like prolonged exposure therapy aim to help PTSD sufferers integrate traumatic memories into ordinary mental schemas, draining their immediacy.
By actively confronting traumatic memories, researchers posit patients can come to process them similarly to other experiences cataloged in personal history. But National Center for PTSD Deputy Director Brian Marx warned individual reactions vary too widely to confirm reliving trauma definitively helps integrate recollection.
Still, the study provides what other studies didn't- biological markers verifying traumatic experience. Scientists hope that by learning more about how stress affects the mind, they can find better ways to treat the horribly vivid symptoms that keep people with PTSD stuck in their pasts.
