Regional brain electrical activity in posttraumatic stress disorder after motor vehicle accident.

Abstract

This study examined whether patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) would show an abnormal pattern of electroencephalographic (EEG) alpha asymmetries, which has been proposed for particular types of anxiety. Patients with PTSD (n = 22) or subsyndromal PTSD (n = 21), traumatized controls without PTSD (non-PTSD with MVA; n = 21), and healthy controls without MVA (n = 23) underwent measurement of EEG activity during baseline and exposure to a neutral, a positive, a negative, and an accident-related picture. Differences in brain asymmetry between groups were observed only during exposure to trauma-related material. PTSD and subsyndromal PTSD patients showed a pattern of enhanced right anterior and posterior activation, whereas non-PTSD with MVA participants showed the opposite pattern. Furthermore, posterior asymmetry in nontraumatized healthy controls varied with gender, with female participants showing a pattern of higher right posterior activation. The results support the hypothesis that symptomatic MVA survivors are characterized by a pattern of right hemisphere activation that is associated with anxious arousal and symptoms of PTSD during processing of trauma-specific information.

EEG correlates of the severity of posttraumatic stress symptoms: A systematic review of the dimensional PTSD literature

“…Using a restingstate paradigm to observe the alpha asymmetry, Kemp et al (2010) found greater right-frontal activity in association with more-severe PTSS. However, Rabe et al (2006a) did not find significant associations in their resting-state paradigm, consistent with other works (Rabe et al, 2006b;Shankman et al, 2008), but they did find greater right-frontal activity to be associated with greater PTSS severity when the subjects viewed trauma-related pictures. Given the inverse relationship between alpha power and cortical activity (Oakes et al, 2004), a decrease in alpha power is assumed to reflect an increase in cortical activity.…”

“…In other studies(Rabe et al, 2006b;Shankman et al, 2008), neither alpha, beta nor theta asymmetries in the frontal, central or posterior regions was correlated with PTSS.Another work investigated the alpha asymmetry in an emotion paradigm in patients with PTSD who were victims of motor vehicle accidents (MVA), subsyndromal PTSD (MVA), traumatized controls (without PTSD with MVA), and healthy controls (without MVA). EEG was recorded during baseline and exposure to neutral, positive, negative, and accident-related pictures(Rabe et al, 2006a).Alpha asymmetry scores (right minus left hemisphere) for the frontal and parietal regions were recorded. Although the authors did not find any correlation between the EEG baseline and PTSS, when they computed the alpha asymmetry scores for the anterior and posterior regions on the basis of the EEG alpha power change scores (neutral minus emotion condition), significant correlations were found.…”

Reduced mismatch negativity in posttraumatic stress disorder: A compensatory mechanism for chronic hyperarousal?

“…The MMN might therefore be a valuable tool for the research of basic physiological changes in PTSD. Newest results suggest asymmetric processing in PTSD (Lepisto et al, 2004;Rabe et al, 2006). Further studies might show whether this highly differential processing of auditory features corresponds to an asymmetry in hemispheric processing.…”

Changes in Brain Electrical Activity After Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Patients Injured in Motor Vehicle Accidents

“…In a recent study, we examined brain electrical activity in motor vehicle accident (MVA) survivors with PTSD, subsyndromal PTSD, and without PTSD as well as healthy controls without severe MVA during baseline and during confrontation to neutral, positive, negative, and trauma-related pictures (12). We found that participants with PTSD and subsyndromal PTSD showed a pattern of enhanced right anterior and posterior activation in response to the trauma-related accident picture.…”