Activating the attachment system modulates neural responses to threat in refugees with PTSD.

ABSTRACT: Social attachment systems are disrupted for refugees through trauma and forced displacement. This study tested how the attachment system mitigates neural responses to threat in refugees with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Refugees with PTSD (N = 28) and refugee trauma-exposed controls (N = 22) viewed threat-related stimuli primed by attachment cues during a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan. Group differences and the moderating effects of avoidant or anxious attachment style and grief related to separation from family on brain activity and connectivity patterns were examined. Separation grief was associated with increased amygdala but decreased ventromedial prefrontal cortical (VMPFC) activity to the attachment prime and decreased VMPFC and hippocampal activity to attachmen

SUBMITTER: Liddell BJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8717059 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature