Negative Emotion Regulation in Patients with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder |
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| Authors: | Kunlin Xiong Ye Zhang Mingguo Qiu Jingna Zhang Linqiong Sang Li Wang Bing Xie Jian Wang Min Li |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Radiology, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.; 2. Department of Medical Image, College of Biomedical Engineering, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.; 3. Department of Radiology, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.; 4. Department of Psychology, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.; Banner Alzheimer’s Institute, United States of America, |
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| Abstract: | ObjectiveTo explore the neural mechanisms of negative emotion regulation in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).MethodsTwenty PTSD patients and 20 healthy subjects were recruited. Event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to investigate the modification of emotional responses to negative stimuli. Participants were required to regulate their emotional reactions according to the auditory regulation instructions via headphones, to maintain, enhance or diminish responses to negative stimuli during fMRI scans.ResultsThe PTSD group showed poorer modification performance than the control group when diminishing responses to negative stimuli. On fMRI, the PTSD group showed decreased activation in the inferior frontal cortex, inferior parietal lobule, insula and putamen, and increased activation in posterior cingulate cortex and amygdala during up-regulation of negative emotion. Similar decreased activation regions were found during down-regulation of negative emotion, but no increased activation was found.ConclusionTrauma exposure might impair the ability to down-regulate negative emotion. The present findings will improve our understanding of the neural mechanisms of emotion regulation underlying PTSD. |
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