JOIN USScientists decode mechanism behind PTSD
Victims of terror attack or sexual assault live with fear for many years after the incidents. Two Bengaluru-based scientists now claim to have understood the underlying mechanism causing such fears, which may lead to new treatments for such victims.
The duo from the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) has shown how the brain distinguishes safety from danger, and how such processes, which are crucial for survival, may go wrong in psychiatric ailments like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is experienced by soldiers or victims of sexual violence, terrorism and natural disasters.
Using animal experimental techniques designed by Russian Nobel-laureate Ivan Pavlov more than a century ago, the NCBS team discovered the biochemical pathway in the brain involved in distinguishing between safe and risky stimuli.The researchers subsequently found out what happens when this distinction gets blurred and the victims becomes fearful at the drop of a hat.
“We will see if that pathway can be targeted either by a drug or behavioural intervention to open up a new window for PTSD treatment,” Sumantra Chattarji, lead author of the study and professor of neurobiology at NCBS, told Deccan Herald.
While PTSD cases in US soldiers serving in Vietnam and the Gulf are well-documented, there is not much scientific documentation of cases involving Indian soldiers who served in Jammu and Kashmir and the North-East.
The scientists apprehend that the Indian armed and paramilitary forces too have large numbers of such cases. The Defence Institute of Psychological Research, Delhi, under the Defence Research and Development Organisation studies Indian soldiers, but scientific publications are too few.
If the number of victims of sexual assault and natural disasters are included, there will be a large number of Indian patients who currently receive only symptomatic treatment.
Asked if the experiments carried out on rats could hold true for humans, who have complex memory, Chattarji said both are comparable as the amygdala—an almond-shape part of the brain involved in memory, emotion and decision-making—was involved.
The study by Chattarji and his colleague Supriya Ghosh provides an insight into how information is processed in the amygdala and the delicate balance between whether one should or should not be afraid is maintained. Earlier, the role of amygdala was poorly understood. “The findings will be helpful for those having phobias as well,” said Chattarji.