Understanding the Brain Final Project Powerpoint based on memories and how they are linked to the symptoms of PTSD

1. Memories: The Link
to PTSD
Understanding the Brain

2. PTSD is a mental
disorder/health condition in
which people have experienced
or witnessed a traumatic event,
this leads to uncontrolled and
repetitive memories. This can
have severe physiological
impacts.
Source: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) - Symptoms and causes - Mayo Clinic
The most common
events that lead to
PTSD include:
Combat exposure
Sexual violence
Childhood physical
abuse

3. PTSD affects 3.5% of the U.S. adult
population — about 8 million Americans.
About 37% of those diagnosed with PTSD
are classified as having severe
symptoms. And women have higher rates
than men.
Source: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - NAMI-NYC (naminycmetro.org)

4. Symptoms of PTSD
can vary overtime
and from person to
person
In this presentation we
are going to focus on
how the memories
form and how they
link to PTSD
PTSD: Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Coping (verywellhealth.com)

5. Types of Memories
Implicit
These are unconscious
and automatic
memories, such as how
to complete everyday
tasks such as brushing
your teeth
Working
This is the short term
memory that is held
temporarily. These can
be turned into explicit
memories over time
Explicit
(declarative)
This includes semantic
and episodic memories -
these are the
remembering of facts
and memories of events

6. In order for both types of working memory to be
formed, semantic and episodic, the hippocampus is
involved.
Episodic memories are stored in the neocortex -
however when they are accessed the memory returns
to the hippocampus to be reconsolidated compared to
a semantic memory which only flows in one direction
from the hippocampus to the neocortex.
Source: theguardian.com
How memories are formed and stored:

7. Memory Pathway:
Episodic memory ->
Hippocampus (process) ->
Neocortex ->
Hippocampus
(reconsolidation) ->
Neocortex

8. Episodic memories are still dependent on the structures in the medial
temporal lobe, including the hippocampus.
This means when there are damages to the hippocampus both
semantic and episodic memories cannot be created.
Past episodic memories are still present but are partially disturbed, the
damage results in deficits in episodic memory, delayed recall, and
recollective experience, as reconsolidation in the hippocampus cannot
occur.
Source: Classic and recent advances in understanding amnesia - PMC (nih.gov)
What problems are created if there is damage to the hippocampus:

9. How does PTSD arise:
People are more likely to remember
a memory if an emotion is
connected, this is how PTSD arises.
A stressful or traumatic event will
occur which will cause nightmares
or flashbacks to the event. This is
connected to triggers which cause
an emotional reaction with
overwhelming emotions or a feeling
on numbness.

10. Ways in which the symptoms of PTSD can be minimised:
Taking the emotion out of the triggers can be used to minimise the reaction
given.
Beta blockers can be given to a person - this is done to oppose the effects of
the sympathetic nervous system (which is the part that is ‘fight or flight’).
The use of beta blockers are used to remake the memory without the
emotion - this means that someone can unlearn the initial trigger so that the
experience with beta blockers is remembered.
Based on the findings, propranolol administered prior to trauma memory
reactivation decreased the severity of PTSD symptoms, reduced
physiological responses (e.g., heart rate, skin conductance, blood pressure),
and improved cognitive performance in individuals with PTSD.
Source: Propranolol for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Review of Clinical Effectiveness - NCBI Bookshelf (nih.gov)

11. The ways in which this course has allowed you to
better analyze the events and phenomena around
me:
THANK YOU
This course has allowed me to better understand how
neuroscience can help to explain different
conditions/health problems, that people may
experience themselves or witness others experience.
It has also allowed me to have more in depth
knowledge about everyday occurrences, such as
vision, language, and hearing. It also has helped me to
learn how the brain can produce different behaviours
and how people’s hearing and vision deteriorate over
time.