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

• Published in: Developmental cognitive neuroscience 2016-10, Vol.21 (C), p.15-25
• Main Authors: van den Bulk, Bianca G., Somerville, Leah H., van Hoof, Marie-José, van Lang, Natasja D.J., van der Wee, Nic J.A., Crone, Eveline A., Vermeiren, Robert R.J.M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Amygdala; Amygdala - diagnostic imaging; Amygdala - physiology; Amygdala - physiopathology; Anxiety Disorders - diagnostic imaging; Anxiety Disorders - physiopathology; Anxiety Disorders - psychology; Brain Mapping - methods; Child Abuse, Sexual - psychology; Childhood sexual abuse related posttraumatic stress disorder; Emotional face processing; Emotions - physiology; Facial Expression; Fear - physiology; Fear - psychology; Female; Habituation; Habituation, Psychophysiologic - physiology; Humans; Internalizing disorders; Male; Original Research; Photic Stimulation - methods; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - diagnostic imaging; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - physiopathology; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - psychology
• ISSN: 1878-9293; 1878-9307
• DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2016.08.002

•A study investigating habituation patterns in the amygdala.•Compares adolescents with internalizing disorders and adolescents with CSA-related PTSD.•Initial heightened response and fast habituation in amygdala for the PTSD group.•No habituation of amygdala response in the internalizing group.•Possible difference in underlying neurobiological mechanisms for emotional face processing. 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.