Browsing by Subject "Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)"

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    501 Maternal PTSD and Child Brain Function During Implicit Emotion Regulation
    (Cambridge University Press, 2024-04-03) Crum, Kathleen I.; Aloi, Joseph; LeFevre, Katherine; McCormack, Kennedy; Hulvershorn, Leslie; Psychiatry, School of Medicine
    OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Maternal mental health, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), is closely linked to child mental health. PTSD in mothers is associated with their children’s emotional responses. We examined associations between maternal PTSD and child brain function during emotion regulation. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Eight children ages 10-12 years, whose mothers had trauma histories, performed the Emotional N-Back task during functional MRI scanning. Mothers and children each reported on their trauma exposure and PTSD symptom severity. BOLD response to fearful faces during the Emotional N-Back was extracted from two specific brain regions of interest, amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex. These regions are involved in emotional response and attentional control, which are processes intrinsic to emotion regulation. An independent samples t-test was conducted on children’s BOLD response to fearful faces, with maternal PTSD symptom severity (high, low) as the independent variable. A parallel analysis was conducted with child PTSD symptom severity (high, low) as the independent variable. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: We found a main effect of maternal PTSD within brain regions of relevance to implicit emotion regulation. Compared to children whose mothers reported low PTSD symptom severity (n=4), children whose mothers reported high PTSD symptom severity (n=4) showed greater responsiveness to fearful faces in anterior cingulate cortex (t=2.04, p=.09,d=1.44) and amygdala (t=2.44, p=.05, d=1.72) at trending significance. A parallel analysis with child PTSD symptom severity showed no differences in brain function by this factor (ps=.55-.61). DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Our pilot study is the first, to our knowledge, to examine associations between maternal PTSD and brain function during emotion regulation in their children. This study lays a foundation for future work; our goal is to explore dysfunction in emotion regulation neurocircuitry as one mechanism linking maternal PTSD to their children’s mental health.
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    Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Unaccompanied Refugee Minors: Prevalence, Contributing and Protective Factors, and Effective Interventions: A Scoping Review
    (MDPI, 2023-05-26) Oberg, Charles; Sharma, Hayley; Medicine, School of Medicine
    In 2021, there were close to 37 million children displaced worldwide. There were 13.7 million refugees and an additional 22.8 million internally displaced. In Europe, this included 23,255 unaccompanied minors seeking asylum, up 72% compared with 2020 (13,550). The objective was to review the current literature regarding PTSD in unaccompanied refugee minors (URM). The authors searched Ovid Medline, Embase, and Cochrane Library from 1 January 2008 through 15 January 2019. Thirty full texts were chosen that specifically studied unaccompanied refugee minors (URM). The results showed that URM had a prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD of 17-85% across the studies reviewed. There were numerous factors that contributed to PTSD, including cumulative stress and trauma, guilt, shame, and uncertainty about legal status. Protective factors included resilience, a trusted mentor, belonging to a social network, religion, having an adult mentor, and having a family (even if far away). Immigrant youth can thrive most easily in multiculturally affirming countries. Five interventions demonstrated effectiveness, comprising trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT); "Mein Weg", a TF-CBT combined with a group-processing mixed therapy approach; teaching recovery techniques (TRT), narrative exposure therapy for children (KIDNET), and expressive arts intervention (EXIT). The significant mental health conditions include depression, anxiety, internalizing and externalizing behaviors, and frequently PTSD. It is fair to conclude that the high levels of mental health problems experienced in URM are due to exposure to traumatic experiences, separation from parents, and lack of social support.