Neuropsychological functioning of childhood trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder: A meta-analysis

Executive functions in trauma-exposed youth: a meta-analysis

“…Previous meta-analyses showed that trauma exposure is associated with post-traumatic stress complaints, internalizing and externalizing problems (Fowler, Tompsett, Braciszewski, Jacques-Tiura, & Baltes, 2009), depression, suicide attempts, drug use, sexually transmitted diseases (Norman et al, 2012), and various physical health problems such as neurological, musculoskeletal, respiratory, cardiovascular, and metabolic problems (Wegman & Stetler, 2009). Besides these emotional and physical consequences of trauma exposure, results of previous reviews showed that cognitive functioning, more specifically executive functioning, is also affected by early life stress and trauma exposure in youth (Kavanaugh, Dupont-frechette, Jerskey, & Karen, 2017;Malarbi, Abu-Rayya, Muscara, & Stargatt, 2017). Whereas earlier research focused on the impact of trauma and maltreatment on overall executive skills in youth, we distinguish three core executive functions: working memory, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility.…”

“…A previous meta-analysis and a review showed that trauma-exposed and maltreated youth performed worse on executive functions than controls (Kavanaugh et al, 2017;Malarbi et al, 2017). Trauma exposure is thought to influence executive functions by impacting underlying neurobiological mechanisms.…”

The mediating role of the metacognition, time perspectives and experiential avoidance on the relationship between childhood trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms

“…Childhood trauma, including abuse (sexual, emotional, and physical), and neglect (physical and emotional), is one of the most reliable predictors of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, which are characterized by re-experiencing, avoidance, negative cognitions and mood, and arousal following exposure to a stressor (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Literature reviews (Dar, Wani, Margoob, Haq, & Chandel, 2015;Dvir, Ford, Hill, & Frazier, 2014;Li & Seng, 2018;Messman-Moore & Bhuptani, 2017), meta-analyses (Malarbi, Abu-Rayya, Muscara, & Stargatt, 2017;Tang, Deng, Glik, Dong, & Zhang, 2017) as well as longitudinal studies (Shenk, Putnam, Rausch, Peugh, & Noll, 2014;Steine et al, 2017) and cross-cultural studies (Kratzer et al, 2018;Vang, Shevlin, Karatzias, Fyvie, & Hyland, 2018) have all shown a direct association between childhood trauma and PTSD. However, not all childhood trauma contribute to PTSD or PTSD symptoms (Copeland, Keeler, Angold, & Costello, 2007;Paolucci, Genius, & Violato, 2001), suggesting that possible mediators may elucidate how childhood trauma leads to PTSD symptoms, but the causal mechanisms between childhood trauma and the progress of PTSD symptoms have not been sufficiently studied.…”

Intermittent Hypoxic Conditioning Alleviates Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder-Induced Damage and Dysfunction of Rat Visceral Organs and Brain

“…Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a condition caused by severe stress and subsequent chronic distress, which is generally associated with a life-threatening experience, such as a natural disaster, military combat, traffic accidents, incurable disease or a personal tragedy. PTSD may result in neuropsychological [1,2], cardiovascular [3], gastrointestinal, metabolic, endocrine, and even oncological diseases [4]. Current pharmacological treatment for PTSD is not adequately effective and may cause serious side effects.…”