Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD, 创伤后应激障碍) is a mental disorder that develops among people who have experienced or observed traumatic things such as wars, disasters or other violent events. At the heart of PTSD is a memory that cannot be controlled. It can affect the everyday lives of its sufferers in forms such as flashbacks, nightmares and anxiety.
A new study done by researchers from Yale University and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City suggests that patients with PTSD process their traumatic memories differently than regular memories.
The researchers did brain scans of 28 PTSD patients. I hey asked the patients to listen to recorded narrations of their own memories. Some of the recorded memories were neutral, some were simply “sad”, and some were traumatic.
They found that when the patients listened to the sad memories, the hippocampus (海马体), which is responsible for forming memories, was activatea. But when they listened to the traumatic memories, a different area, called the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC. 后扣带回皮质), was engaged. The PCC is not a memory region. Instead, it regulates internal experiences, such as daydreaming.
The more severe PTSD symptoms are, the more active the PCC is. “The brain doesn’t look like it’s in a state of memory; it looks like it is a state of present experience.” Daniela Schiller, one of the authors of the study, told The New York Times. “That means people with PTSD feel as though they’re experiencing the traumatic event again in the present moment, rather than thinking back on it like atypical memory.”
The new finding might hold hope for new PTSD therapies (治疗). Future therapies are expected to focus on helping PTSD patients return their traumatic memories to the hippocampus so that they can treat them as regular and non-disruptive (非破坏性的) memories. Changing the ways of thinking could help the brain reduce the feeling of immediate threat caused by trauma, according to Ilan HarRaz-Rotem, one of the paper’s authors.
8. What is the core issue regarding PTSD according to the text?
A.An uncontrollable memory. | B.Brain damage. |
C.Anxiety disorders. | D.Nightmares. |
9. What happened when PTSD patients listened to their traumatic memories, according to the study?
A.Their hippocampus was closed. |
B.Their internal experiences were blocked. |
C.Their PCC area became active. |
D.Their regular memory function improved. |
10. According to Schiller when individuals with severe PTSD listen to traumatic memories, their brains will be in a state of ________.
A.memory recall | B.daydreaming |
C.current experience | D.boredom |
11. What could be a possible future therapy for PTSD patients based on the study’s findings?
A.Controlling the hippocampus. |
B.Removing the feeling of threat. |
C.Normalizing their traumatic memories. |
D.Changing their brain structure. |