Trauma and Neurobiology
Topic leader: Lena Oestreich
School of Psychology & Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN)
The University of Queensland, Australia
Please contact Lena Oestreich, if you would like to initiate new projects.
This topic addresses research on the neurobiology of trauma across the lifespan, ranging from fundamental mechanisms of stress, adaptation, and brain plasticity to large-scale international studies of mental health, resilience, and recovery. It brings together global researchers to examine how traumatic experiences influence the brain and body, including alterations in neural systems involved in emotion regulation, threat processing, memory, self-referential processing, and social functioning.
Research within this topic spans multiple levels of analysis, integrating approaches from neuroscience, psychology, psychiatry, and population health. Studies may investigate brain structure and function, neuroendocrine and immune processes, genetic and environmental risk factors, and behavioural or clinical outcomes. A particular focus is understanding how different forms of adversity, from childhood trauma to interpersonal violence, displacement, and conflict-related trauma, shape brain development, mental health trajectories, and long-term wellbeing in trauma survivors around the world.
Global Neuroimaging of Complex PTSD
Harmonising CPTSD Measures and Brain Imaging Across International Trauma Cohorts
Project leader
Lena K. L. Oestreich, School of Psychology & Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), The University of Queensland, Australia
Project group
Jennifer Stevens – Emory University, USA
Lena K. L. Oestreich – The University of Queensland, Australia
Miranda Olff – Amsterdam University
Wissam El-Hage, -Université de Tours, France
Xuqian Li – The University of Queensland, Australia Nicolas Murgueitio – Emory University School of Medicine, USA
Yann Quidé - The University of New South Wales, Australia
Background
Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) was introduced in the ICD-11 to describe the broader psychological consequences of prolonged or repeated trauma. In addition to the core PTSD symptoms of re-experiencing, avoidance, and persistent threat, CPTSD is characterised by disturbances in self-organisation, including affect dysregulation, negative self-concept, and interpersonal difficulties. CPTSD is common among individuals exposed to chronic trauma such as childhood abuse, domestic violence, or war, yet its neurobiological basis remains largely unknown. To date, neuroimaging studies of trauma have primarily focused on PTSD, and existing studies of CPTSD are small and underpowered. Large-scale collaborative neuroimaging initiatives such as the Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics Through Meta Analysis (ENIGMA) consortium have successfully identified reproducible brain alterations across psychiatric disorders, but CPTSD has not yet been systematically investigated within these frameworks. This project brings together global neuroimaging researchers to integrate data from international trauma cohorts. By harmonising CPTSD measures and combining structural and diffusion MRI data across cohorts, the project aims to determine whether CPTSD shows distinct brain alterations compared with PTSD and trauma-exposed controls.
Aims
This project aims to determine whether CPTSD represents a neurobiologically distinct condition from PTSD. Specifically, we will:
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harmonise CPTSD symptom measures across international trauma cohorts;
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identify cortical thickness differences between PTSD, CPTSD, and trauma-exposed controls using large-scale mega-analysis; and
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examine white-matter microstructural differences using along-tract diffusion MRI analyses.
These analyses will provide the first international neuroimaging investigation of CPTSD.
Methods
This study uses a multi-cohort quantitative neuroimaging design integrating global trauma datasets, including the Grady Trauma Project, the Australian Trauma Biobank, and other ENIGMA-PTSD cohorts. Participants include individuals with PTSD, CPTSD, trauma-exposed controls, and trauma-free healthy controls. First, CPTSD-related measures across cohorts will be harmonised by mapping ICD-11 CPTSD symptoms and DSM-based PTSD assessments into a shared analytic framework. Harmonisation procedures will generate a cross-cohort CPTSD dataset and compatibility matrix. Second, structural MRI data will be analysed using standardised ENIGMA pipelines based on FreeSurfer to examine cortical thickness and surface area differences across diagnostic groups. Mega-analytic linear mixed models will account for demographic variables and site effects. Third, diffusion MRI data will be analysed using along-tract tractometry methods to characterise microstructural properties of major white-matter pathways. This approach enables spatially resolved analysis of diffusion metrics along fibre tracts and increases sensitivity to subtle alterations associated with trauma exposure. Together, these analyses will provide the first large-scale investigation of structural brain differences between PTSD and CPTSD.
Status
Starting up
Collaborate
Collaborators are welcome (CAW)! . Please contact Lena Oestreich, if you are interested to join this project.