Lonely in the Dark: Trauma Memory and Sex-Specific Dysregulation of Amygdala Reactivity to Fear Signals.

ABSTRACT: Loneliness exacerbates psychological distress and increases the risk of psychopathology after trauma exposure. However, it is still unclear whether a lack of social connectedness affects trauma-related intrusions and the neural processing of fear signals. Moreover, it is uncertain, whether loneliness plays a different role in women and men. A prestratification strategy is used and n = 47 (n = 20 women) healthy lonely individuals and n = 35 controls (n = 18 women) are recruited. Participants are exposed to an experimental trauma and evoked intrusive thoughts in daily life are monitored for three consecutive days. Functional magnetic resonance imaging is used to assess neural habituation to fearful faces and fear learning (conditioning and extinction) prior to trauma exposure. The results re

SUBMITTER: Morr M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9131432 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature