Veterans’ brains are different

According to PhD candidate Elbert Geuze, symptoms experienced by war veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are not just fantasies but the actual neurobiological consequences of the traumatic stress the former soldiers sustained in war zones.

With MRI research he has shown that veterans who suffer from PTSD have a smaller hippocampus and a thinner prefrontal cortex. He has also shown that in this group, GABA (an important neurotransmitter in the brain) binds less well to its receptor. Furthermore, sensitivity to pain is reduced in veterans and they show different brain patterns when memory is active.

Geuze will receive his PhD from Utrecht University on October 24. The title of his thesis is, “The War Within - Neurobiological Alterations in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.”