Amygdala habituation to emotional faces in adolescents with internalizing disorders, adolescents with childhood sexual abuse related PTSD and healthy adolescents

Bianca G van den Bulk; Leah H Somerville; Marie-José van Hoof; Natasja D J van Lang; Nic J A van der Wee; Eveline A Crone; Robert R J M Vermeiren

doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2016.08.002

Amygdala habituation to emotional faces in adolescents with internalizing disorders, adolescents with childhood sexual abuse related PTSD and healthy adolescents

Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2016 Oct:21:15-25. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2016.08.002. Epub 2016 Aug 25.

Authors

Bianca G van den Bulk¹, Leah H Somerville², Marie-José van Hoof³, Natasja D J van Lang⁴, Nic J A van der Wee⁵, Eveline A Crone⁶, Robert R J M Vermeiren⁷

Affiliations

¹ Curium-LUMC, Department of Child Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Centre, P.O. box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, the Netherlands; Leiden Consortium on Individual Development, Department of Child and Family Studies, Leiden University, P.O. box 9555, 2300 RB Leiden, the Netherlands; Institute of Psychology, Brain and Development Lab, Leiden University, P.O. box 9555, 2300 RB Leiden, the Netherlands; Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University Medical Centre, P.O. box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, the Netherlands. Electronic address: b.g.van.den.bulk@gmail.com.
² Department of Psychology, Affective Neuroscience and Development Lab, Harvard University, 52 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
³ Curium-LUMC, Department of Child Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Centre, P.O. box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, the Netherlands; Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University Medical Centre, P.O. box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, the Netherlands; GGZ Rivierduinen, Psychotraumacenter and Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, P.O. box 2211, 2301 CE Leiden, the Netherlands.
⁴ Curium-LUMC, Department of Child Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Centre, P.O. box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, the Netherlands; Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University Medical Centre, P.O. box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, the Netherlands.
⁵ Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University Medical Centre, P.O. box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, the Netherlands; Department of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Centre. P.O. box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, the Netherlands.
⁶ Institute of Psychology, Brain and Development Lab, Leiden University, P.O. box 9555, 2300 RB Leiden, the Netherlands; Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University Medical Centre, P.O. box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, the Netherlands.
⁷ Curium-LUMC, Department of Child Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Centre, P.O. box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, the Netherlands; Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University Medical Centre, P.O. box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, the Netherlands; Department of Child Psychiatry, VU University Medical Centre, P.O. box 303, 1115 ZG Duivendrecht, the Netherlands.

Abstract

Adolescents with internalizing disorders and adolescents with childhood sexual abuse related post-traumatic stress disorder (CSA-related PTSD) show a large overlap in symptomatology. In addition, brain research indicated hyper-responsiveness and sustained activation instead of habituation of amygdala activation to emotional faces in both groups. Little is known, however, about whether the same patterns of amygdala habituation are present in these two groups. The current study examined habituation patterns of amygdala activity to emotional faces (fearful, happy and neutral) in adolescents with a DSM-IV depressive and/or anxiety disorder (N=25), adolescents with CSA-related PTSD (N=19) and healthy controls (N=26). Behaviourally, the adolescents from the internalizing and CSA-related PTSD group reported more anxiety to fearful and neutral faces than adolescents from the control group and adolescents from the CSA-related PTSD group reacted slower compared to the internalizing group. At the whole brain level, there was a significant interaction between time and group within the left amygdala. Follow-up ROI analysis showed elevated initial activity in the amygdala and rapid habituation in the CSA-related PTSD group compared to the internalizing group. These findings suggest that habituation patterns of amygdala activation provide additional information on problems with emotional face processing. Furthermore, the results suggest there are differences in the underlying neurobiological mechanisms related to emotional face processing for adolescents with internalizing disorders and adolescents with CSA-related PTSD. Possibly CSA-related PTSD is characterized by a stronger primary emotional response driven by the amygdala.

Keywords: Adolescents; Amygdala; Childhood sexual abuse related posttraumatic stress disorder; Emotional face processing; Habituation; Internalizing disorders.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Amygdala / diagnostic imaging
Amygdala / physiology
Amygdala / physiopathology*
Anxiety Disorders / diagnostic imaging
Anxiety Disorders / physiopathology
Anxiety Disorders / psychology
Brain Mapping / methods
Child Abuse, Sexual* / psychology
Emotions* / physiology
Facial Expression*
Fear / physiology
Fear / psychology
Female
Habituation, Psychophysiologic* / physiology
Humans
Male
Photic Stimulation / methods
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / diagnostic imaging
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / physiopathology*
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / psychology