Released on June 4, 2008, the Science Daily dot com web site has an article regarding the loss of gray matter in the key emotion centers of the brain after major trauma. The Cornell University study was published in the April issue of Neurolmage. Barbara Ganzel, the study's lead researcher and postdoctoral fellow at Cornell's College of Human Ecology shows that even healthy adults, with no prior mental disorders, experience effects which are long lasting after such events as 9/11. This study of adults, who were in close proximity of the New York disaster, suggests anxiety is a result of smaller, more reactive amygdalas. The information obtained from two different types of MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) shows how this affects the individual, resulting in anxious behavior. They also noted that several other brain regions associated with emotion processing were smaller.
The amygdala is a brain area that detects the presence of threatening information. There is a photo showing the difference in these areas to the right of the article.
Co-authors include Elise Temple of Dartmouth College, Cornell graduate student Pilyoung Kim, and Gary Glover of Stanford University.
For the complete article one must go to the Science Daily website. The article is titled "Brain's Gray Cells Appear To Be Changed By Trauma Of Major Events Like 9/11 Attack, Study Suggests"
The amygdala is a brain area that detects the presence of threatening information. There is a photo showing the difference in these areas to the right of the article.
Co-authors include Elise Temple of Dartmouth College, Cornell graduate student Pilyoung Kim, and Gary Glover of Stanford University.
For the complete article one must go to the Science Daily website. The article is titled "Brain's Gray Cells Appear To Be Changed By Trauma Of Major Events Like 9/11 Attack, Study Suggests"
