Neuropsychology for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - Essay Sample

Virtual Reality Exposure Based Therapy (VR-EBT) is a mechanism that explains that virtual reality can be used in the treatment and prevention of PTSD. According to Botella et al. (2015), VR-EBT is an effective and promising alternative treatment for PTSD. Indeed, exposure therapy is as effective as other traditional treatment methods. When a PTSD patient is exposed to VR therapy, their symptoms are reduced and completely recovered. Also, pre-exposure therapy of VR acts as a preventive measure to prevent PTSD. Study shows that children exposed to virtual reality violence may not have PTSD and related fears and anxieties (Kothgassner et al. 2019).

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Several structures of the brain are affected when a person has PTSD. The main structures are the amygdala and mid anterior cingulate cortex, which becomes stimulated by the PTSD condition. However, other parts such as the right inferior gyrus, hippocampus, orbitofrontal cortex, dorsolateral PFC, and ventromedial PFC becomes hypoactive and, in worst cases, to the atrophy (Starcevic, 2016). Amygdala performs crucial brain functions such as conditioning fear and assessing threat-related stimuli, while the mid anterior cingulate cortex performs emotional awareness and registers physical pain. When these areas are stimulated, the structures stop functioning effectively.

Catecholamines are neurotransmitters involved in post-traumatic stress disorder. Catecholamine is a family of neurotransmitters, including norepinephrine and dopamine (DA), obtained from amino acid tyrosine (Starcevic, 2016). In PTSD patients, there is reported increased urine excretion and metabolite of dopamine. Furthermore, mesolimbic dopamine causes fear disorder. Evidence shows that extreme exposure of humans to stressors induced mesolimbic to release DA, which modulates the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis response. It is not clear whether the metabolism of DA changes during PTSD, but the DA system's genetic variations are said to make humans prone to PTSD.

During PTSD, the brain structures and neurotransmitters are affected and stop functioning normally. In response, they either switch off completely or partially. Exposure therapy to virtual reality may help bring back these systems effectively when exposed to the same trauma. The brain structures and the neurotransmitters will fight to avoid the previous experience. However, continued exposure will slowly allow these systems to accommodate the traumatic feelings. Consequently, the systems will allow the various affected parts to resume their functions. Although the recovery may take some time, both neurotransmitters and the brain structures will start functioning normally.

References

Botella, C., Serrano, B., Baños, R., & García-Palacios, A. (2015). Virtual reality exposure-based therapy for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder: A review of its efficacy, the adequacy of the treatment protocol, and its acceptability. Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, 2533. https://doi.org/10.2147/ndt.s89542

Kothgassner, O. D., Goreis, A., Kafka, J. X., Van Eickels, R. L., Plener, P. L., & Felnhofer, A. (2019). Virtual reality exposure therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD): A meta-analysis. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 10(1), 1654782. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2019.1654782

Starcevic, A. (2016). Structural Brain Changes in PTSD. DOI: 10.5772/64080