High levels of stimulation of the amygdala can also interfere with hippocampal functioning.102, 103 Thus, extreme emotional arousal may prevent the proper evaluation and categorization of experience by interfering with hippocampal functions. It is possible that, when this occurs, sensory imprints of experience are stored in memory, but because the hippocampus is prevented from fulfilling its integrative function, these various Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical imprints are not combined

into a unified whole.104 The experience is laid down, and later retrieved, as isolated images, bodily sensations, smells, and sounds that feel alien and separate from other life experiences. Decreased hippocampal functioning is likely to interfere with the localization of incoming information in time and space and cause continued fragmentation Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of experience. Jhe recent findings of decreased dorsolateral frontal cortex activation would further provide a neurobiological explanation why people with PTSD plunge into reexperiencing

their trauma with limited consciousness that they are simply remembering Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical elements of experiences belonging to the past. In our pilot study, using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) as an outcome measure of eye movement descnsitization and reprocessing (EMDR) treatment, subjects had increased activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex following effective treatment. Hemispheric lateralization The finding of hemispheric lateralization in subjects exposed to their personalized trauma scripts indicates that there is differential Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical hemispheric involvement in the processing of traumatic memories. This may have important see more implications for the understanding of the nature of PTSD. The right hemisphere, which developmentally comes “on-line” earlier than the left hemisphere, is involved in the expression and comprehension of global, nonverbal emotional communication (tone of voice, facial Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical expression, visual/ spatial communication), and allows for a dynamic

and holistic integration across sensory modalities.105 This hemisphere is particularly integrated with the amygdala, which assigns emotional significance to incoming stimuli and helps regulate the autonomic and hormonal responses to that information. While it is exquisitely sensitive to emotional nuances, it has, at best, a rudimentary capacity to think or communicate analytically, to employ syntax, or to reason.106, 107 In contrast, the left hemisphere, which mediates verbal communication and organizes problem-solving tasks the into a well-ordered set of operations and processes information in a sequential fashion,107 seems to be less active in PTSD. It is in the area of categorization and labeling of internal states that people with PTSD seem to have particular problems.108, 109 It is conceivable that failure of left hemisphere function during states of extreme arousal is responsible for the derealization and depersonalization reported in acute PTSD.