Via Reuters: A new study reported in the January 2004 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry suggests that people with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) store memories of the traumatic event in a completely different area of the brain:
Specifically, people with PTSD showed a high level of activity in the right back region of the brain, which is associated with non-verbal memories, such as the sights, sounds and smells associated with a past event.In contrast, people without the condition showed much higher levels of activity in the left front of the brain, a region associated with storing verbal memories, such as the narrative of a past event . . .
Dr. Ruth Lanius of the University of Western Ontario, one of the lead investigators on the study, noted that future treatment may focus on use of medications to target the brain connections in areas where people with PTSD store memories. Another approach may be therapy to help PTSD patients transform their memories from visual, non-verbal experiences into verbal events.
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