{"id":98967,"date":"2023-05-01T13:39:29","date_gmt":"2023-05-01T18:39:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?p=98967"},"modified":"2023-05-03T09:47:17","modified_gmt":"2023-05-03T14:47:17","slug":"study-suggests-new-target-for-ptsd-treatment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/05\/01\/study-suggests-new-target-for-ptsd-treatment\/","title":{"rendered":"Study suggests new target for PTSD treatment"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A team led by Jenni Blackford, PhD, director of the research UNMC\u2019s Munroe-Meyer Institute, has shed light on a new aspect of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a recently published paper<\/a>, Dr. Blackford and her team, including first author Brandee Feola, PhD, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, explored the effects a small brain region brain \u2013 the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) – might have on people suffering from PTSD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Blackford, who also is a professor in the UNMC Department of Neurological Sciences, agrees that the amygdala and brain regions connected to the amygdala drive fear responses and are the one important cause of PTSD. But the study found that the BNST, located deep in the middle of the brain, also has an effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Studies in animals have shown that the amygdala, the paper\u2019s authors said, provides fear responses to predictable threats, while the BNST provides anxiety responses to potential, unpredictable threats. However, because the BNST is such a tiny brain region, previous studies weren\u2019t able to study it in humans. Dr. Blackford and her team pioneered the methods to study the BNST in humans which laid the foundation for this study in people with PTSD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are really interested in these results, because most treatments don\u2019t work well for people with PTSD — and the existing treatments target this fear network,\u201d Dr. Blackford said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Study participants included 32 combat-exposed veterans with PTSD and 13 combat-exposed controls without PTSD. Across all conditions, veterans with PTSD had heightened BNST activation and displayed stronger BNST and amygdala connectivity with multiple fear and anxiety regions involved in both fear stress and responses to unpredictable threat relative to controls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe found the amygdala is involved \u2013 similar to many other studies \u2013 but we also showed that BNST also is involved, and that people with PTSD \u2013 especially combat veterans \u2013 have differences in both of these networks,\u201d she said. \u201cTheir fear system is on hyperdrive and now we have discovered that their anxiety system is also on hyperdrive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study results, Dr. Blackford said, may provide a new treatment target for individuals with PTSD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne thing that these study findings tells us is that this might be why PTSD is so hard to treat,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have some gold standard treatments, and we should keep using those, but we really need to look for treatments that can help reduce the BNST hyperactivity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interestingly, Dr. Blackford said, one drug that is shown to reduce BNST activation is alcohol.  \u201cThis finding might explain why alcohol is often used by people with PTSD,\u201d she said. \u201cHowever, it is important to note that using alcohol to self-medicate PTSD symptoms is not a safe approach and also can make PTSD symptoms worse in the long run.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, Dr. Blackford, who did the bulk of the research while working at the Tennessee Valley Veterans Administration Healthcare System before taking on her role at MMI, hopes other researchers build on the study\u2019s results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese results give us an exciting new target for treatment,\u201d she said. \u201cThe fact that both the fear and anxiety systems are altered in PTSD might explain why PTSD is so hard to treat. We need to find behavioral treatments or other safe medications that target both the amygdala and PTSD. People with PTSD likely need a dual approach that addresses both of these brain systems.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MMI’s Jenni Blackford, PhD, recently published results in the Journal of Traumatic Stress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":72038,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"78357,36673,41225,35345,34831,31395","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","author_override-john-keenan-unmc-strategic-communications"],"yoast_head":"\nStudy suggests new target for PTSD treatment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"MMI's Jenni Blackford, PhD, recently published results in the Journal of Traumatic Stress.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/05\/01\/study-suggests-new-target-for-ptsd-treatment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Study suggests new target for PTSD treatment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"MMI's Jenni Blackford, PhD, recently published results in the Journal of Traumatic Stress.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/05\/01\/study-suggests-new-target-for-ptsd-treatment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-01T18:39:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-03T14:47:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Blackford102721.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"705\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"406\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Keenan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@unmc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@unmc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Keenan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/05\/01\/study-suggests-new-target-for-ptsd-treatment\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/05\/01\/study-suggests-new-target-for-ptsd-treatment\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"John Keenan\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/59c9598a54f1a531c30cccc1d010ac17\"},\"headline\":\"Study suggests new target for PTSD treatment\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-01T18:39:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-03T14:47:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/05\/01\/study-suggests-new-target-for-ptsd-treatment\/\"},\"wordCount\":569,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/05\/01\/study-suggests-new-target-for-ptsd-treatment\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Blackford102721.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/05\/01\/study-suggests-new-target-for-ptsd-treatment\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/05\/01\/study-suggests-new-target-for-ptsd-treatment\/\",\"name\":\"Study suggests new target for PTSD treatment\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/05\/01\/study-suggests-new-target-for-ptsd-treatment\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/05\/01\/study-suggests-new-target-for-ptsd-treatment\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Blackford102721.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-01T18:39:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-03T14:47:17+00:00\",\"description\":\"MMI's Jenni Blackford, PhD, recently published results in the Journal of Traumatic Stress.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/05\/01\/study-suggests-new-target-for-ptsd-treatment\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/05\/01\/study-suggests-new-target-for-ptsd-treatment\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/05\/01\/study-suggests-new-target-for-ptsd-treatment\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Blackford102721.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Blackford102721.jpg\",\"width\":705,\"height\":406},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/05\/01\/study-suggests-new-target-for-ptsd-treatment\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Study suggests new target for PTSD treatment\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/\",\"name\":\"Newsroom\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization\",\"name\":\"University of Nebraska Medical Center\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":153,\"caption\":\"University of Nebraska Medical Center\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/unmc\",\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/iamunmc\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/UNMCEDU\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/59c9598a54f1a531c30cccc1d010ac17\",\"name\":\"John Keenan\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/author\/02e74f10e0327ad868d138f2b4fdd6f0\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Study suggests new target for PTSD treatment","description":"MMI's Jenni Blackford, PhD, recently published results in the Journal of Traumatic Stress.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/05\/01\/study-suggests-new-target-for-ptsd-treatment\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Study suggests new target for PTSD treatment","og_description":"MMI's Jenni Blackford, PhD, recently published results in the Journal of Traumatic Stress.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/05\/01\/study-suggests-new-target-for-ptsd-treatment\/","og_site_name":"Newsroom","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu","article_published_time":"2023-05-01T18:39:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-05-03T14:47:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":705,"height":406,"url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Blackford102721.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"John Keenan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@unmc","twitter_site":"@unmc","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"John Keenan","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/05\/01\/study-suggests-new-target-for-ptsd-treatment\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/05\/01\/study-suggests-new-target-for-ptsd-treatment\/"},"author":{"name":"John Keenan","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/59c9598a54f1a531c30cccc1d010ac17"},"headline":"Study suggests new target for PTSD treatment","datePublished":"2023-05-01T18:39:29+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-03T14:47:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/05\/01\/study-suggests-new-target-for-ptsd-treatment\/"},"wordCount":569,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/05\/01\/study-suggests-new-target-for-ptsd-treatment\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Blackford102721.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/05\/01\/study-suggests-new-target-for-ptsd-treatment\/","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/05\/01\/study-suggests-new-target-for-ptsd-treatment\/","name":"Study suggests new target for PTSD treatment","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/05\/01\/study-suggests-new-target-for-ptsd-treatment\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/05\/01\/study-suggests-new-target-for-ptsd-treatment\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Blackford102721.jpg","datePublished":"2023-05-01T18:39:29+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-03T14:47:17+00:00","description":"MMI's Jenni Blackford, PhD, recently published results in the Journal of Traumatic Stress.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/05\/01\/study-suggests-new-target-for-ptsd-treatment\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/05\/01\/study-suggests-new-target-for-ptsd-treatment\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/05\/01\/study-suggests-new-target-for-ptsd-treatment\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Blackford102721.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Blackford102721.jpg","width":705,"height":406},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/05\/01\/study-suggests-new-target-for-ptsd-treatment\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Study suggests new target for PTSD treatment"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/","name":"Newsroom","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization","name":"University of Nebraska Medical Center","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png","width":500,"height":153,"caption":"University of Nebraska Medical Center"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu","https:\/\/x.com\/unmc","https:\/\/instagram.com\/iamunmc","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/UNMCEDU"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/59c9598a54f1a531c30cccc1d010ac17","name":"John Keenan","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/author\/02e74f10e0327ad868d138f2b4fdd6f0\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98967"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99080,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98967\/revisions\/99080"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}