Cerebellum
September 19, 2022
Daniela Rabellino, J. Thome, Maria Densmore et al.
The flocculus is a region of the vestibulocerebellum dedicated to the coordination of neck, head, and eye movements for optimal posture, balance, and orienting responses. Despite growing evidence of vestibular and oculomotor impairments in the aftermath of traumatic stress, little is known about the effects of chronic psychological trauma on vestibulocerebellar functioning. Here, we...
Frontiers in Neuroscience
December 10, 2020
Daniela Rabellino, Paul Frewen, Margaret C Mckinnon et al.
Peripersonal space (PPS) is defined as the space surrounding the body where we can reach or be reached by external entities, including objects or other individuals. PPS is an essential component of bodily self-consciousness that allows us to perform actions in the world (e.g., grasping and manipulating objects) and protect our body while interacting with the surrounding environment....
European Journal of Psychotraumatology
October 23, 2020
Ruth A. Lanius, Braeden A. Terpou, Margaret C Mckinnon
158 citations
ABSTRACT Trauma can profoundly affect the sense of self, where both cognitive and somatic disturbances to the sense of self are reported clinically by individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These disturbances are captured eloquently by clinical accounts, such as, ‘I do not know myself anymore,’ ‘I will never be able to experience normal emotions again,’ and, ‘I feel dead...
Psychophysiology
September 10, 2019
Sherain Harricharan, A. Nicholson, J. Thome et al.
Individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) typically experience states of reliving and hypervigilance; however, the dissociative subtype of PTSD (PTSD+DS) presents with additional symptoms of depersonalization and derealization. Although the insula is critical to emotion processing, its association with these contrasting symptom profiles is yet to be fully delineated. Accordingly,...
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
May 1, 2018
Daniela Rabellino, Dalila Burin, Sherain Harricharan et al.
55 citations
Traumatic experiences have been linked to the development of altered states of consciousness affecting bodily perception, including alterations in body ownership and sense of agency, the conscious experience of the body as one’s own and under voluntary control. Severe psychological trauma and prolonged distress may lead to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).Together, symptoms of derealization...
Human Brain Mapping
April 17, 2018
Daniela Rabellino, Maria Densmore, Jean Théberge et al.
The cerebellum plays a key role not only in motor function but also in affect and cognition. Although several psychopathological disorders have been associated with overall cerebellar dysfunction, it remains unclear whether different regions of the cerebellum contribute uniquely to psychopathology. Accordingly, we compared seed-based resting-state functional connectivity of the anterior...
European Journal of Psychotraumatology
2018
Jenna E Boyd, Alina Protopopescu, Charlene O'Connor et al.
ABSTRACT Background: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is associated with significant functional impairment in important areas, including interpersonal relationships and occupational or educational roles. Preliminary evidence suggests that the dissociative subtype of PTSD (PTSD+DS), characterized by marked symptoms of depersonalization and derealization, is associated with increased...
Chronic Stress
2018
Francesca L Schiavone, Margaret C Mckinnon, Ruth A. Lanius
To overview the phenomenology, etiology, assessment, and treatment of psychotic-like symptoms in trauma-related disorders focusing on the proposed role of temporal lobe dysfunction. We describe the literature pertaining to (i) psychotic-like symptoms and temporal lobe dysfunction in trauma-related disorders and (ii) psychological testing profiles in trauma-related disorders. We define...
Human Brain Mapping
December 20, 2017
Daniela Rabellino, Maria Densmore, Sherain Harricharan et al.
64 citations
The bed nucleus of the stria terminals (BNST) is a subcortical structure involved in anticipatory and sustained reactivity to threat and is thus essential to the understanding of anxiety and stress responses. Although chronic stress and anxiety represent a hallmark of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), to date, few studies have examined the functional connectivity of the BNST in PTSD. Here,...
Human Brain Mapping
November 13, 2017
Isadora Olivé, Maria Densmore, Sherain Harricharan et al.
45 citations
OBJECTIVES: The innate alarm system (IAS) models the neurocircuitry involved in threat processing in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Here, we investigate a primary subcortical structure of the IAS model, the superior colliculus (SC), where the SC is thought to contribute to the mechanisms underlying threat-detection in PTSD. Critically, the functional connectivity between the SC and other...
Neuropsychologia
November 1, 2017
Sherain Harricharan, Andrew A Nicholson, Maria Densmore et al.
64 citations
The vestibular system integrates multisensory information to monitor one's bodily orientation in space, and is influenced by interoceptive awareness. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) involves typically alterations in interoceptive and bodily self-awareness evidenced by symptoms of hyperarousal, as well as of emotional detachment, including emotional numbing, depersonalization, and...
Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience
October 2, 2017
Jenna E Boyd, Ruth A. Lanius, Margaret C Mckinnon
Mindfulness-based treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have emerged as promising adjunctive or alternative intervention approaches. A scoping review of the literature on PTSD treatment studies, including approaches such as mindfulness-based stress reduction, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and metta mindfulness, reveals low attrition with medium to large effect sizes. We...
Neuropsychologia
September 2016
Margaret C Mckinnon, Jenna E Boyd, Paul Frewen et al.
Dissociative experiences, involving altered states of consciousness, have long been understood as a consequence or response to traumatic experiences, where a reduced level of consciousness may aid in survival during and after a traumatic event. Indeed, the dissociative subtype of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD-DS) was added recently to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental...
European Journal of Psychotraumatology
February 24, 2016
M. Parlar, Paul Frewen, Carolina Oremus et al.
Background Although preliminary work suggests that dissociative symptoms may impact neuropsychological performance in trauma-exposed populations, the relation between dissociation and cognitive performance has not been explored in patients with depression. Objective The present study examined dissociative symptoms in relation to neuropsychological performance in participants with a primary...
European Journal of Psychotraumatology
2016
Daniela Rabellino, Sherain Harricharan, Paul Frewen et al.
25 citations
Early traumatic experiences are thought to be causal factors in the development of trauma-related dissociative experiences, including depersonalization and derealization. The rubber hand illusion (RHI), a well-known paradigm that measures multi-sensorial integration of a rubber hand into one's own body representation, has been used to investigate alterations in the experience of body ownership...
European Journal of Psychotraumatology
April 7, 2015
Ruth A. Lanius, Paul Frewen, Mischa Tursich et al.
Background: Three intrinsic connectivity networks in the brain, namely the central executive, salience, and default mode networks, have been identified as crucial to the understanding of higher cognitive functioning, and the functioning of these networks has been suggested to be impaired in psychopathology, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Objective: 1) To describe three main...