I agree that the signalling issues of the amygdala are sort of central, but we do not know if they are the cause or merely the manifestation of PTSD. You can give people drugs that depress the signalling which suppresses symptoms - but the PTSD doesn't go away.
Because we cannot follow random infants through their entire life with PET and fMRI, we cannot watch the brain change from inception. We know there is a difference in receptor patterns - but those could be innate to the person. My father almost certainly had PTSD. (I know this in retrospect - he had a horrific childhood, was in Korea in the 'jungle' for two years during the war, and had some very traumatic circumstances - plane crashes - rescues as a fireman in the Airforce, a gun aimed at his abdomen. He had many of the same symptoms I have now.) So it is possible that my amygdala was already screwy, the receptors were already primed.
My father being the broken person he was, married an even more broken, psychotic person who also probably had/has PTSD.
It was like the study in the past looking at the brains of gay men - some said the difference was due to the gay lifestyle while others said it was the brain being different that made them gay. The fact is - we don't really know that much yet about receptors in the brain and how they actually work.
I just started one of the new studies today - it's looking at language differences - neurolinguistics - of people with PTSD versus those who've had trauma but don't have PTSD. Our Broca motor area decreases blood flow when we talk about our trauma, as opposed to when we talk about day-to-day conversation. Neurolinguistics are looking at PTSD from an entirely different viewpoint.
Who knows, maybe they'll be able to create a CBT based on neurolinguistic exercises.
Be well Ikop - but don't sacrifice yourself unless it is really what you want to do.
When I underwent the study where I had the 2.5 hour PET scan - I worried about the safety of certain aspects of the test. The radio-isotope, the art line (people can get CRPS/RSD from them), and the trauma of being tied down in an enclosed space for that length of time. If anyone other than the treatment team had seen how badly my entire body shook and how long I cried afterwards - they'd have locked me up.
Because we cannot follow random infants through their entire life with PET and fMRI, we cannot watch the brain change from inception. We know there is a difference in receptor patterns - but those could be innate to the person. My father almost certainly had PTSD. (I know this in retrospect - he had a horrific childhood, was in Korea in the 'jungle' for two years during the war, and had some very traumatic circumstances - plane crashes - rescues as a fireman in the Airforce, a gun aimed at his abdomen. He had many of the same symptoms I have now.) So it is possible that my amygdala was already screwy, the receptors were already primed.
My father being the broken person he was, married an even more broken, psychotic person who also probably had/has PTSD.
It was like the study in the past looking at the brains of gay men - some said the difference was due to the gay lifestyle while others said it was the brain being different that made them gay. The fact is - we don't really know that much yet about receptors in the brain and how they actually work.
I just started one of the new studies today - it's looking at language differences - neurolinguistics - of people with PTSD versus those who've had trauma but don't have PTSD. Our Broca motor area decreases blood flow when we talk about our trauma, as opposed to when we talk about day-to-day conversation. Neurolinguistics are looking at PTSD from an entirely different viewpoint.
Who knows, maybe they'll be able to create a CBT based on neurolinguistic exercises.
Be well Ikop - but don't sacrifice yourself unless it is really what you want to do.
When I underwent the study where I had the 2.5 hour PET scan - I worried about the safety of certain aspects of the test. The radio-isotope, the art line (people can get CRPS/RSD from them), and the trauma of being tied down in an enclosed space for that length of time. If anyone other than the treatment team had seen how badly my entire body shook and how long I cried afterwards - they'd have locked me up.
