Preventing and treating PTSD-like memory by trauma contextualization
Alice Shaam Al Abed, Eva‐Gunnel Ducourneau, Chloé Bouarab, Azza Sellami, Aline Marighetto, Aline Desmedt
Abstract
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized by emotional hypermnesia on which preclinical studies focus so far. While this hypermnesia relates to salient traumatic cues, partial amnesia for the traumatic context can also be observed. Here, we show in mice that contextual amnesia is causally involved in PTSD-like memory formation, and that treating the amnesia by re-exposure to all trauma-related cues cures PTSD-like hypermnesia. These findings open a therapeutic perspective based on trauma contextualization and the underlying hippocampal mechanisms.
Topics & Concepts
AmnesiaContextualizationContext (archaeology)Perspective (graphical)PsychologyNeuroscienceHippocampal formationMemory formationCognitive psychologyPsychotherapistBiologyComputer sciencePaleontologyProgramming languageInterpretation (philosophy)Artificial intelligenceMemory and Neural MechanismsStress Responses and CortisolAnesthesia and Neurotoxicity Research