Childhood Maltreatment and Amygdala-Mediated Anxiety and Posttraumatic Stress Following Adult Trauma

Authors

Farah Harb, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Michael T. Liuzzi, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Ashley A. Huggins, University of Arizona
E. Kate Webb, Harvard Medical School
Jacklynn M. Fitzgerald, Marquette UniversityFollow
Jessica L. Krukowski, Marquette University
Terri A. deRoon-Cassini, Medical College of Wisconsin
Christine L. Larson, University of Wisconsin - MilwaukeeFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-2024

Publisher

Elsevier

Source Publication

Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science

Source ISSN

2667-1743

Original Item ID

DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsgos.2024.100312

Abstract

Background

Childhood abuse (physical, emotional, and sexual) is associated with aberrant connectivity of the amygdala, a key threat-processing region. Heightened amygdala activity also predicts adult anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, as do experiences of childhood abuse. The current study explored whether amygdala resting-state functional connectivity may explain the relationship between childhood abuse and anxiety and PTSD symptoms following trauma exposure in adults.

Methods

Two weeks posttrauma, adult trauma survivors (n = 152, mean age [SD] = 32.61 [10.35] years; women = 57.2%) completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. PTSD and anxiety symptoms were assessed 6 months posttrauma. Seed-to-voxel analyses evaluated the association between childhood abuse and amygdala resting-state functional connectivity. A mediation model evaluated the potential mediating role of amygdala connectivity in the relationship between childhood abuse and posttrauma anxiety and PTSD.

Results

Childhood abuse was associated with increased amygdala connectivity with the precuneus while covarying for age, gender, childhood neglect, and baseline PTSD symptoms. Amygdala-precuneus resting-state functional connectivity was a significant mediator of the effect of childhood abuse on anxiety symptoms 6 months posttrauma (B = 0.065; 95% CI, 0.013–0.130; SE = 0.030), but not PTSD. A secondary mediation analysis investigating depression as an outcome was not significant.

Conclusions

Amygdala-precuneus connectivity may be an underlying neural mechanism by which childhood abuse increases risk for anxiety following adult trauma. Specifically, this heightened connectivity may reflect attentional vigilance for threat or a tendency toward negative self-referential thoughts. Findings suggest that childhood abuse may contribute to longstanding upregulation of attentional vigilance circuits, which makes one vulnerable to anxiety-related symptoms in adulthood.

Comments

Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science, Vol. 4, No. 4 (July 2024). DOI.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Harb, Farah; Liuzzi, Michael T.; Huggins, Ashley A.; Webb, E. Kate; Fitzgerald, Jacklynn M.; Krukowski, Jessica L.; deRoon-Cassini, Terri A.; and Larson, Christine L., "Childhood Maltreatment and Amygdala-Mediated Anxiety and Posttraumatic Stress Following Adult Trauma" (2024). Psychology Faculty Research and Publications. 622.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/psych_fac/622