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These findings highlight why the brains of people with PTSD may not be updating to safety.

This is the first study to identify connections across the entire brain while recalling traumatic memories.

PTSD disrupts communication between survival and reflective brain regions, altering danger and safety signals.

The findings point toward treatments that help the brain reconnect and feel safe again.

This article was co-authored by Dr. Ruth Lanius and Lauren Rudolph

What is actually happening in our brain that makes us react to traumatic memories as though there is still danger, even if we are now safe? We conducted a first-of-its-kind study comparing the brains of people with and without PTSD when they recall traumatic memories. The results were fascinating and have important implications for treatment.

People with PTSD often struggle to feel safe and grounded when they recall traumatic memories, so we wanted to understand if there are differences in the connections between different levels of the brain that contribute to this. This is the first study to look at connections across the entire brain while people recall traumatic memories, rather than focusing on isolated brain regions.

What We Did in the Study

In this study, we asked this question: How are connections across brain levels different in people with Classic PTSD, people with the Dissociative Subtype of PTSD, and people who have experienced a traumatic event but did not develop PTSD?

All participants recalled a neutral memory and a traumatic memory during an fMRI brain scan. The traumatic memory involved a “moral injury” — a traumatic event........

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