Functional Connectivity of the Auditory Cortex in Women With Trauma-Related Disorders Who Hear Voices.

Background: Voice hearing (VH) is a transdiagnostic experience that is common in trauma-related disorders. However, the neural substrates that underlie trauma-related VH remain largely unexplored. While auditory perceptual dysfunction is among the abnormalities implicated in VH in schizophrenia, whether VH in trauma-related disorders also involves auditory perceptual alterations is unknown.

Advancing Research on and Treatment of Dissociative Identity Disorder With People With Lived Experience.

Dissociative identity disorder is a posttraumatic, psychobiological syndrome that develops over time during childhood. Despite empirical evidence supporting the validity of this diagnosis and its relation to trauma, the disorder remains a misunderstood and stigmatized condition. This article highlights expert consensus guidelines and current empirical research on the treatment of dissociative identity disorder.

Treatment of dissociative identity disorder: leveraging neurobiology to optimize success.

Introduction: Dissociative identity disorder (DID) is a treatable mental health condition that is associated with a range of psychobiological manifestations. However, historical controversy, modern day misunderstanding, and lack of professional education have prevented accurate treatment information from reaching most clinicians and patients. These obstacles also have slowed empirical efforts to improve treatment outcomes for people with DID.

Rare copy number variation in posttraumatic stress disorder.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a heritable (h = 24-71%) psychiatric illness. Copy number variation (CNV) is a form of rare genetic variation that has been implicated in the etiology of psychiatric disorders, but no large-scale investigation of CNV in PTSD has been performed. We present an association study of CNV burden and PTSD symptoms in a sample of 114,383 participants (13,036 cases and 101,347 controls) of European ancestry.

Anxiety sensitivity predicts depression severity in individuals with dissociative identity disorder.

Background: Anxiety sensitivity involves the fear of anxiety-related symptoms and can exacerbate both major depressive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. However, it is unclear if anxiety sensitivity plays a similar role in dissociative identity disorder (DID) where symptoms of depression and PTSD commonly co-occur. We examined the association between anxiety sensitivity, depression, PTSD and dissociative symptoms in DID, hypothesizing a positive association between all symptoms and anxiety sensitivity.

Posttraumatic cognitions predict distorted body perceptions in women with dissociative identity disorder.

Background: Dissociative identity disorder (DID) is a psychobiological syndrome associated with a history of exposure to childhood abuse and neglect. The consequences of these traumatic events often include a profound impact on the way individuals inhabit and experience their bodies. Despite this, there is a paucity of empirical research on the subject.

Large-Scale Functional Brain Network Architecture Changes Associated With Trauma-Related Dissociation.

Objective: Dissociative experiences commonly occur in response to trauma, and while their presence strongly affects treatment approaches in posttraumatic spectrum disorders, their etiology remains poorly understood and their phenomenology incompletely characterized. Methods to reliably assess the severity of dissociation symptoms, without relying solely on self-report, would have tremendous clinical utility. Brain-based measures have the potential to augment symptom reports, although it remains unclear whether brain-based measures of dissociation are sufficiently sensitive and robust to enable individual-level estimation of dissociation severity based on brain function.

Childhood maltreatment type and severity predict depersonalization and derealization in treatment-seeking women with posttraumatic stress disorder.

The dissociative subtype of posttraumatic stress disorder (D-PTSD) is estimated to occur in approximately 14% of those with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and is characterized by clinically significant dissociative symptoms in addition to typical PTSD symptoms. Prior research has found childhood maltreatment contributes to dissociation and D-PTSD susceptibility, but more nuanced questions about the nature of childhood maltreatment remain unexplored. We investigated how childhood maltreatment type and severity are associated with the dissociative symptoms of D-PTSD among women with PTSD (N = 106) receiving psychiatric care at a program specializing in trauma-related disorders.

Assessing Voice Hearing in Trauma Spectrum Disorders: A Comparison of Two Measures and a Review of the Literature.

Voice hearing (VH) can occur in trauma spectrum disorders (TSD) such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and dissociative disorders. However, previous estimates of VH among individuals with TSD vary widely. In this study, we sought to better characterize the rate and phenomenology of VH in a sample of 70 women with TSD related to childhood abuse who were receiving care in a specialized trauma program.

Higher integration scores are associated with facial emotion perception differences in dissociative identity disorder.

Background: Recovery from dissociative identity disorder (DID) is associated with the process of integration, which includes an increasing sense of self-cohesion and ownership over one's own emotions. Emotion perception is a construction based on interplay between stored knowledge (past experience), and incoming sensory inputs, suggesting changes in emotion perception might occur at different levels of integration - but this remains unexplored. Therefore, we examined the association between integration, psychiatric symptoms, and facial emotion perception.

Genomic influences on self-reported childhood maltreatment.

Childhood maltreatment is highly prevalent and serves as a risk factor for mental and physical disorders. Self-reported childhood maltreatment appears heritable, but the specific genetic influences on this phenotype are largely unknown. The aims of this study were to (1) identify genetic variation associated with self-reported childhood maltreatment, (2) estimate SNP-based heritability (h), (3) assess predictive value of polygenic risk scores (PRS) for childhood maltreatment, and (4) quantify genetic overlap of childhood maltreatment with mental and physical health-related phenotypes, and condition the top hits from our analyses when such overlap is present.

Altered white matter microstructural organization in posttraumatic stress disorder across 3047 adults: results from the PGC-ENIGMA PTSD consortium.

A growing number of studies have examined alterations in white matter organization in people with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) using diffusion MRI (dMRI), but the results have been mixed which may be partially due to relatively small sample sizes among studies. Altered structural connectivity may be both a neurobiological vulnerability for, and a result of, PTSD. In an effort to find reliable effects, we present a multi-cohort analysis of dMRI metrics across 3047 individuals from 28 cohorts currently participating in the PGC-ENIGMA PTSD working group (a joint partnership between the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium and the Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis consortium).

Dissociative subtype of posttraumatic stress disorder in women in partial and residential levels of psychiatric care.

The dissociative subtype of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is estimated to characterize about 12-30% of those with PTSD. Some research links this subtype with increased severity of PTSD symptoms compared to samples with "classic" PTSD. However, prevalence and severity rates reported in the literature have varied.

International meta-analysis of PTSD genome-wide association studies identifies sex- and ancestry-specific genetic risk loci.

The risk of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following trauma is heritable, but robust common variants have yet to be identified. In a multi-ethnic cohort including over 30,000 PTSD cases and 170,000 controls we conduct a genome-wide association study of PTSD. We demonstrate SNP-based heritability estimates of 5-20%, varying by sex.

Autonomic responses to fear conditioning among women with PTSD and dissociation.

Background: Individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) demonstrate alterations in autonomic responses to fear conditioning, such as exaggerated startle and poor fear inhibition. However, there is a paucity of research on fear conditioning among individuals with PTSD and dissociative symptoms, which represents 10-30% of those with PTSD. The current study used a fear-potentiated startle (FPS) conditioning paradigm to examine autonomic responses among women with PTSD and a range of dissociative symptoms.

Preliminary Evidence of a Missing Self Bias in Face Perception for Individuals with Dissociative Identity Disorder.

Failing to recognize one's mirror image can signal an abnormality in one's sense of self. In dissociative identity disorder (DID), individuals often report that their mirror image can feel unfamiliar or distorted. They also experience some of their own thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations as if they are nonautobiographical and sometimes as if instead, they belong to someone else.

Smaller Hippocampal Volume in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Multisite ENIGMA-PGC Study: Subcortical Volumetry Results From Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Consortia.

Background: Many studies report smaller hippocampal and amygdala volumes in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but findings have not always been consistent. Here, we present the results of a large-scale neuroimaging consortium study on PTSD conducted by the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC)-Enhancing Neuroimaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis (ENIGMA) PTSD Working Group.

Methods: We analyzed neuroimaging and clinical data from 1868 subjects (794 PTSD patients) contributed by 16 cohorts, representing the largest neuroimaging study of PTSD to date.

A preliminary study of risperidone in the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder related to childhood abuse in women.

Background: This study evaluated the effectiveness of risperidone in women for the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to childhood physical, sexual, verbal, and emotional abuse.

Method: Subjects were outpatient adult women, aged 18 to 64 years, with chronic PTSD related to childhood physical, sexual, verbal, or emotional abuse. Data were collected from November 18, 2001, to June 7, 2003.