2024-10-21 16:00:00
This October morning, in a small room in the psychiatry department of the Saint-Antoine hospital (AP-HP), in Paris, Julien – his name has been changed – is sitting in an armchair, with, on his head, a sort of of green neoprene hood. Gently, psychiatrist Alexis Bourla moves a robotic arm to correctly position an electromagnetic coil on his scalp to deliver magnetic pulses to the target brain area: the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. This area is particularly involved in memory management, decision making and the control of impulses and emotions, including the fear circuit.
Julien is taking part in a randomized, double-blind study – patients and doctors do not know whether the treatment is a placebo or not – conducted at the Saint-Antoine hospital, Pitié-Salpêtrière and several university hospitals in France, which is expected to include around a hundreds of patients and aims to measure the effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), associated with memory reactivation, in patients suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). There are three weekly sessions for four weeks.
Half of the participants underwent placebo stimulation, without a magnetic pulse. This national study is coordinated by Florian Ferreri, psychiatrist and co-head of the Paris-Centre-Sud psychotrauma reference center at the Saint-Antoine hospital. This is an innovative approach to a disorder that is currently at the center of numerous research studies. Post-traumatic stress disorder occurs after a traumatic event (natural disasters, attacks, wars, rapes, etc.) with a risk of death. The most harmful involve interpersonal violence and an intentional act. We talk about simple trauma (single event or limited in time) or complex (repeated) trauma.
Memory pathology
While most victims do not suffer from PTSD, some develop particularly disabling symptoms. Repeated reliving of the event, with flashbacks, intrusive images, nightmares, avoidance of situations that recall the trauma, negative thoughts, withdrawal into oneself. Added to this are hypervigilance, sleep disorders, anxiety… Many symptoms that alter the personal, social and professional lives of these mentally damaged people.
Post-traumatic stress disorder is also a memory disorder. It is often associated with other disorders: addictions, behavioral disorders, depression, suicidal risk. Not to mention the possible consequences on somatic health, particularly at a cardiovascular level.
#ways #treat #posttraumatic #stress #disorder