Relationship of trauma symptoms to amygdala-based functional brain changes in adolescents.

In this pilot study, amygdala connectivity related to trauma symptoms was explored using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (R-fMRI) in 23 healthy adolescents ages 13-17 years with no psychiatric diagnoses. Adolescents completed a self-report trauma symptom checklist and a R-fMRI scan. We examined the relationship of trauma symptoms to resting-state functional connectivity of the amygdala. Increasing self-report of trauma symptoms by adolescents was associated with increasing functional connectivity with the right amygdala and a local limbic cluster and decreasing functional connectivity with the amygdala and a long-range frontoparietal cluster to the left amygdala, which can be a hallmark of immaturity. These pilot findings in adolescents provide preliminary evidence that even mild trauma symptoms can be linked to the configuration of brain networks associated with the amygdala.

Duke Scholars

Author Kate B Nooner Psychiatry, Child & Family Mental Health & Community Psychia ...