Functional connectivity changes in the delta frequency band following trauma treatment in complex trauma and dissociative disorder patients.

Objective: Phase-oriented trauma treatment is efficacious in the treatment of complex trauma and dissociative disorder patients. However, the neural correlates of this therapeutic effect are not yet well-understood. In the current study we investigated whether patients show a strengthening in functional network connectivity in the delta frequency band (1-3.

Complex post-traumatic stress disorder.

Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (complex PTSD) is a severe mental disorder that emerges in response to traumatic life events. Complex PTSD is characterised by three core post-traumatic symptom clusters, along with chronic and pervasive disturbances in emotion regulation, identity, and relationships. Complex PTSD has been adopted as a new diagnosis in the ICD-11.

Normal amygdala morphology in dissociative identity disorder.

Studies investigating the structure of the amygdala in relation to dissociation in psychiatric disorders are limited and have reported normal or preserved, increased or decreased global volumes. Thus, a more detailed investigation of the amygdala is warranted. Amygdala global and subregional volumes were compared between individuals with dissociative identity disorder (DID: n = 32) and healthy controls (n = 42).

The utility of the Structured Inventory of Malingered Symptomatology for distinguishing individuals with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) from DID simulators and healthy controls.

Background: Individuals with dissociative identity disorder (DID) have complex symptoms consistent with severe traumatic reactions. Clinicians and forensic assessors are challenged by distinguishing symptom exaggeration and feigning from genuine symptoms among these individuals. This task may be aided by administering validity measures.

A neurostructural biomarker of dissociative amnesia: a hippocampal study in dissociative identity disorder.

Background: Little is known about the neural correlates of dissociative amnesia, a transdiagnostic symptom mostly present in the dissociative disorders and core characteristic of dissociative identity disorder (DID). Given the vital role of the hippocampus in memory, a prime candidate for investigation is whether total and/or subfield hippocampal volume can serve as biological markers of dissociative amnesia.

Methods: A total of 75 women, 32 with DID and 43 matched healthy controls (HC), underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Resting-state functional connectivity in patients with a complex PTSD or complex dissociative disorder before and after inpatient trauma treatment.

Introduction: Recent research suggests that traumatized patients are characterized by disrupted resting-state functional connectivity. We examined whether neural networks involved in resting-state change over the course of a phase-oriented inpatient treatment for complex traumatized and dissociative disorder patients. We also investigated associations between these network alterations and clinical symptoms and emotion regulation skills.

Functional reorganization of neural networks involved in emotion regulation following trauma therapy for complex trauma disorders.

Objectives: We investigated whether patients with complex interpersonal trauma engage neural networks that are commonly activated during cognitive reappraisal and responding naturally to affect-laden images. In this naturalistic study, we examined whether trauma treatment not only reduces symptoms but also changes neural networks involved in emotional control.

Methods: Before and after eight weeks of phase-oriented inpatient trauma treatment, patients (n = 28) with complex posttraumatic stress disorder (cPTSD) and complex dissociative disorders (CDD) performed a cognitive reappraisal task while electroencephalography (EEG) was registered.

Aiding the diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder: pattern recognition study of brain biomarkers.

Background: A diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder (DID) is controversial and prone to under- and misdiagnosis. From the moment of seeking treatment for symptoms to the time of an accurate diagnosis of DID individuals received an average of four prior other diagnoses and spent 7 years, with reports of up to 12 years, in mental health services.

Aim: To investigate whether data-driven pattern recognition methodologies applied to structural brain images can provide biomarkers to aid DID diagnosis.

Dissociative part-dependent resting-state activity in dissociative identity disorder: a controlled FMRI perfusion study.

Background: In accordance with the Theory of Structural Dissociation of the Personality (TSDP), studies of dissociative identity disorder (DID) have documented that two prototypical dissociative subsystems of the personality, the "Emotional Part" (EP) and the "Apparently Normal Part" (ANP), have different biopsychosocial reactions to supraliminal and subliminal trauma-related cues and that these reactions cannot be mimicked by fantasy prone healthy controls nor by actors.

Methods: Arterial spin labeling perfusion MRI was used to test the hypotheses that ANP and EP in DID have different perfusion patterns in response to rest instructions, and that perfusion is different in actors who were instructed to simulate ANP and EP. In a follow-up study, regional cerebral blood flow of DID patients was compared with the activation pattern of healthy non-simulating controls.

Dissociative part-dependent biopsychosocial reactions to backward masked angry and neutral faces: An fMRI study of dissociative identity disorder.

Objective: The Theory of Structural Dissociation of the Personality (TSDP) proposes that dissociative identity disorder (DID) patients are fixed in traumatic memories as "Emotional Parts" (EP), but mentally avoid these as "Apparently Normal Parts" of the personality (ANP). We tested the hypotheses that ANP and EP have different biopsychosocial reactions to subliminally presented angry and neutral faces, and that actors instructed and motivated to simulate ANP and EP react differently.

Methods: Women with DID and matched healthy female actors (CON) were as ANP and EP (DIDanp, DIDep, CONanp, CONep) consecutively exposed to masked neutral and angry faces.