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An fMRI study of the brain responses of traumatized mothers to viewing their toddlers during separation and play.
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2011 Oct 22
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11 Jun 2012
New Finding
DOI: 10.3410/f.716397827.791802885
This is the first study that attempts to examine the underlying neural response pattern of difficult caregiving behavior that may be associated with posttraumatic stress disorder related to interpersonal violence(IPV-PTSD). Taken together, these results provide emerging evidence for an underlying neural...Continue reading
This is the first study that attempts to examine the underlying neural response pattern of difficult caregiving behavior that may be associated with posttraumatic stress disorder related to interpersonal violence(IPV-PTSD). Taken together, these results provide emerging evidence for an underlying neural mechanism of a maladaptive caregiving behavior pattern associated with a history of trauma observed in prior research {1-4}.
Schechter et al. compared 11 mothers suffering from IPV-PTSD and nine healthy controls (HC) while observing a video of their own and an unfamiliar infant in a stressful (separation) versus non-stressful (play) situation during functional neuroimaging (fMRI).
As compared to the HC, the PTSD group exhibited significantly greater activation in the bilateral entorhinal cortex and the left caudate nucleus when observing their own child in a stressful versus a non-stressful situation. In contrast, HC showed blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signal increases in higher cortical regions and bilateral superior parietal lobes as compared to mothers suffering from PTSD in a stressful versus a non-stressful situation. These findings demonstrate that mothers suffering from IPV-PTSD exhibited greater limbic and less frontocortical activity in comparison with healthy mothers, thus suggesting a lack of top-down regulation by the superior frontal gyrus and bilateral parietal lobes. Furthermore, it is interesting to note that the behavioral results seem to support the fMRI findings in that IPV-PTSD mothers experienced more distress than HC when observing the infants in a stressful situation.
Future research should clarify whether the reported results are specific to IPV-related PTSD or whether they also occur in response to interpersonal violence without PTSD. In addition, future research is needed to further characterize the potential effects of various types of childhood trauma (e.g. neglect, physical or sexual abuse) occurring at different ages on neuronal response patterns and to determine whether a specific type of trauma exposure can account for the differences observed in the present study. Hence, given the phenomenon of intergenerational transmission of childhood trauma {2,3}, one might hypothesize that childhood trauma could influence the underlying neuronal response pattern of maternal behavior differently as compared to exposure to traumatic events during adolescence/adulthood.
Schechter et al. compared 11 mothers suffering from IPV-PTSD and nine healthy controls (HC) while observing a video of their own and an unfamiliar infant in a stressful (separation) versus non-stressful (play) situation during functional neuroimaging (fMRI).
As compared to the HC, the PTSD group exhibited significantly greater activation in the bilateral entorhinal cortex and the left caudate nucleus when observing their own child in a stressful versus a non-stressful situation. In contrast, HC showed blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signal increases in higher cortical regions and bilateral superior parietal lobes as compared to mothers suffering from PTSD in a stressful versus a non-stressful situation. These findings demonstrate that mothers suffering from IPV-PTSD exhibited greater limbic and less frontocortical activity in comparison with healthy mothers, thus suggesting a lack of top-down regulation by the superior frontal gyrus and bilateral parietal lobes. Furthermore, it is interesting to note that the behavioral results seem to support the fMRI findings in that IPV-PTSD mothers experienced more distress than HC when observing the infants in a stressful situation.
Future research should clarify whether the reported results are specific to IPV-related PTSD or whether they also occur in response to interpersonal violence without PTSD. In addition, future research is needed to further characterize the potential effects of various types of childhood trauma (e.g. neglect, physical or sexual abuse) occurring at different ages on neuronal response patterns and to determine whether a specific type of trauma exposure can account for the differences observed in the present study. Hence, given the phenomenon of intergenerational transmission of childhood trauma {2,3}, one might hypothesize that childhood trauma could influence the underlying neuronal response pattern of maternal behavior differently as compared to exposure to traumatic events during adolescence/adulthood.
References
1.
The impact of cumulative maternal trauma and diagnosis on parenting behavior.
Child Maltreat. 2008 Feb; 13(1): 27-38
PMID: 18174346
DOI: 10.1177/1077559507310045
2.
Subjective and objective measures of parent-child relationship dysfunction, child separation distress, and joint attention.
Psychiatry. 2010; 73(2): 130-44
PMID: 20557225
DOI: 10.1521/psyc.2010.73.2.130
3.
The disturbed caregiving system: Relations among childhood trauma, maternal caregiving, and infant affect and attachment.
Infant Ment. Health J 1996; 17(3): 257-75
DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-0355(199623)17:3<257::AID-IMHJ5>3.0.CO;2-L
4.
Mother-daughter relationships and child sexual abuse: a pilot study of 35 dyads.
Bull Menninger Clin. 2002; 66(1): 39-60
PMID: 11999103
Disclosures
None declared
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Lanius R and Thome J: F1000Prime Recommendation of [Schechter DS et al., Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2011]. In F1000Prime, 11 Jun 2012; DOI: 10.3410/f.716397827.791802885. F1000Prime.com/716397827#eval791802885
F1000Prime Recommendations, Dissents and Comments for [Schechter DS et al., Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2011]. In F1000Prime, 25 May 2013; F1000Prime.com/716397827
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This study tested whether mothers with interpersonal violence-related posttraumatic stress disorder (IPV-PTSD) vs healthy controls (HC) would show greater limbic and less frontocortical activity when viewing young children during separation compared to quiet play. Mothers of 20 children (12-42 months) participated: 11 IPV-PTSD mothers and 9 HC with no PTSD. During fMRI, mothers watched epochs of play and separation from their own and unfamiliar children. The study focused on comparison of PTSD mothers vs HC viewing children in separation vs play, and viewing own vs unfamiliar children in separation. Both groups showed distinct patterns of brain activation in response to viewing children in separation vs play. PTSD mothers showed greater limbic and less frontocortical activity (BA10) than HC. PTSD mothers also reported feeling more stressed than HC when watching own and unfamiliar children during separation. Their self-reported stress was associated with greater limbic and less frontocortical activity. Both groups also showed distinct patterns of brain activation in response to viewing their own vs unfamiliar children during separation. PTSD mothers' may not have access to frontocortical regulation of limbic response upon seeing own and unfamiliar children in separation. This converges with previously reported associations of maternal IPV-PTSD and atypical caregiving behavior following separation.
DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsr069
PMID: 22021653
