The Affective Neuroscience of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

doi:10.1017/9781009342919.037

Chapter 29 - The Affective Neuroscience of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

from Section VII - Individual Differences

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 September 2025

Jennifer Strafford Stevens

Edited by

Jorge Armony and

Patrik Vuilleumier

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Jorge Armony: Affiliation:
McGill University, Montréal
Patrik Vuilleumier: Affiliation:
University of Geneva

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Summary

The current understanding of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is unique relative to other psychiatric disorders in that there are very clear links between basic affective neuroscience and the diagnostic criteria and treatment of the disorder. Current theories of the causes of PTSD, and gold-standard cognitive behavioral treatments, are grounded in foundational knowledge of fear learning and extinction, emotion regulation, attention, memory, and executive functioning. This conceptual alignment allows for clear translational links from molecular biology to systems neuroscience to healthy human studies and, finally, to the clinic. This chapter will outline a number of such translational links, giving a general overview of how affective neuroscience has informed the current understanding of PTSD and the emerging benefits of these insights.

Keywords

PTSD stress affective disorders trauma hyperarousal inhibition extinction memory

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Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge Handbook of Human Affective Neuroscience , pp. 587 - 603

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009342919.037 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2025

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