A prospective study of pre-trauma fear learning and extinction as risk factors for posttraumatic stress disorder.

ABSTRACT: Identifying risk for developing trauma-related disorders is a critical step in future prevention and intervention strategies. Impairments in inhibition of learned fear, such as safety signal learning and fear extinction, are suggested to be core mechanisms underlying symptom development and maintenance of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, it is unclear if these impairments are pre-existing risk factors for PTSD, or if fear inhibition abnormalities arise only after trauma and symptom development. We utilized a prospective-longitudinal study in human, male service members at high risk for trauma exposure to test the hypothesis that learned fear impairments are pre-existing risk factors for PTSD. PTSD symptoms, fear learning, and fear extinction were assessed prior to a 7-month c

SUBMITTER: Acheson DT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12524147 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature