Neural evidence of implicit emotion regulation deficits: An explorative study of comparing PTSD with and without alcohol dependence

Abstract

Background: Previous studies have identified psychiatric comorbidity, including alcohol dependence (AD), as a significant factor in treating posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), there is a lack of evidence on how best to treat comorbid PTSD and AD. Poor emotion regulation may be a key potential mechanism of PTSD and AD comorbidity.

Methods: Seventy-four participants (48 women and 26 men) include three groups: a healthy control group (HC group, N = 20), a PTSD without alcohol dependence group (PTSD without AD group, N = 36), and a PTSD with alcohol dependence group (PTSD with AD group, N = 18). They completed the Shifted Attention Emotion Evaluation Task (SEAT) paradigm while undergoing fMRI.

Results: Gender and hyperarousal symptoms were found to predict the risk of AD. In the whole-brain fMRI data, compared to PTSD without AD, the PTSD with AD group showed significant deactivations in the left middle Occipital Gyri (BA19_L), the right Rolandic Operculum (BA48_R), and the right Lingual Gyri (BA37_R). Furthermore, AD showed a significant correlation with the right Lingual Gyri (BA37_R) in individuals with PTSD.

Conclusion: These findings reveal possible neural mechanisms underlying the difference between PTSD patients with and without AD. These regions are involved in visual pathways, memory processing, and spatial cognition within the context of implicit emotion regulation. The observed alterations in these areas may serve as neural diagnostic markers for PTSD comorbid with AD and could be potential targets for developing novel treatments.

Keywords: Alcohol dependence; Emotion regulation; FMRI; PTSD.