Post-traumatic stress: controlling your memory would be the key to resilience

A heart drawn next to a bullet impact on the window of the Carillon, one of the bars attacked on November 13, 2015. REUTERS / Jacky Naegelen

Text by: RFI Follow

The journal Science has published the results of a study to better understand the origin of post-traumatic stress. A study that is part of a larger transdisciplinary program, created in the aftermath of the attacks of November 13, 2015. This study, entitled "Remember", aims to go further in the understanding of human memory, to propose victims of attacks new avenues of treatment.

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Why do some people who have experienced trauma suffer from post-traumatic stress, while others never develop this disorder? This is essentially the question that the researchers from INSERM (National Institute of Health and Medical Research) are trying to answer. The study is based on brain imaging analysis of a group of 175 volunteer participants. The sample is made up of people suffering from disorders, people who are resilient, and others who have never been exposed to trauma.

Malfunction of networks controlling memory detected

Post-traumatic stress disorder varies from person to person, both in duration and in the strength of its manifestations. It is characterized by several symptoms, in particular the frequent and therefore uncontrolled intrusion of memories of images, smells and sensations associated with a particularly shocking, dangerous or frightening event.

The "Remember" study shows that the manifestation of this post-traumatic stress, which has long been attributed to memory failure, is also linked to a dysfunction of the brain networks that control it. These results allow us to envisage new avenues of treatment in the years to come.

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