Does Trauma Cause the Brain Early Aging?

In a recently conducted study, three groups were asked to recall associations between common words, such as “chair” and “desk.” The separate groups consisted of Holocaust survivors who had recuperated from trauma, Holocaust survivors with persisting PTSD, and a control group whose participants had neither experienced the Holocaust nor suffered from PTSD. In two sets of tests, first at age 67, then at age 72, those who had been affected by PTSD responded incorrectly to half of the tasks—results expected from individuals aged 80 years. The response of those who had not suffered trauma were mostly accurate. Researchers believe this may be correlated with glucocorticoids, hormones released during stressful situations that attack the hippocampus, an area of the brain noted for memory function. This paper appeared in Biological Psychiatry. http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060724/full/060724-1.html