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Building peace one Brain at a time; how education and neurosciences can help us deal with stress and trauma

Myriam El Khoury-Malhame1, 2*, Stephanie Khalfa3 and Emmanuelle Reynaud3
  • 1 Lebanese American University, Social Sciences, Lebanon
  • 2 Lebanese University, Education, Lebanon
  • 3 Institut des Neurosciences de la TImone (INT), France

Although most people will encounter at least one traumatic event over their lifetime, via primary or secondary exposure, not all of them will develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). With the contemporary rise in violence and traumatic sources (especially, but not only, in our Arab part of the world) the World Health Organization recent reports describe PTSD as an increasing global health issue, due to its high frequency, severity, comorbidity and cost. Similarly to other mental health problems, much remains unknown about PTSD. Yet, Similarly to other anxiety disorders it is marked by excessive fear. It thus comes as no surprise that the most prevalent hypothesis in PTSD is that of a fear-processing deficit. Untreated trauma seems to be the missing link in the vicious cycle of violence begetting violence in 80% of reported studies. PTSD is marked by intrusive memories (flashback, nightmares) exaggerated physiological response (sweating, increased heart rate, altered sleep) and impaired emotional responding. It severely alters personal and professional well-being. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is the recommended first line psychotherapy. It is a novel, efficient, rapid and long lasting approach that shows great promise for our patients. We have reproduced that PTSD is characterized by abnormal brain structure and function. Amygdala hyperactivity alongside decreased prefrontal activity is in fact its main trademark. For the best of our knowledge, it is the first time a causal relation is further established in PTSD putting the amygdala activity at the core of the disorder. We show that increased amygdala activity causes difficulty in disengaging attention from threat cues subsequently causing anxious symptomatology. Traumatized brains are biased by the amygdala to be constantly on the lookout for threat. Most importantly we have also shown that after symptom removal by EMDR, peripheral and central processing and grey matter density are restored. EMDR improves psychological, behavioral and brain-based indices. On the other hand, we have looked at resilience as a protective factor to stress. It is defined as the ability to cope effectively in stressful situations and involves the ability to experience emotions matching environmental demands. We show its scores are positively correlated with right amygdala and left (OFC)! Exactly the structures altered in PTSD. Better understanding the neural underpinnings of resilience and mobilizing adequate emotion regulation resources is essential in advocating adaptive ways of dealing with adversities, notably in an Arab world relegating emotions to the back seat. With all this from the neurosciences, it remains a common responsibility to work on implementing adequate educational programs to help our kids foster resilience and later manage their stress and trauma exposure. Psychological interventions would thus actively participate in promoting sustainable peace, one individual brain at a time.

References

Wurtz, H., El Khoury-Malhame, M., Wilhem, F., Michael, T., Beetz, EM., Roques, J., Reynaud, E. Courtin, J., Khalfa, S. and Herry, C. Preventing long-lasting fear recovery using bilateral alternating sensory stimulation: a translational study. Neuroscience (IF=6.735), 2015; e-pub

Reynaud, E., Guedj, E., Souville, M., Trousselard, M., Zendjidjian, X., El Khoury-Malhame, M., Fakra, E., Nazarian, B., Blin, O., Canini, F. and Khalfa, S. Relationship between emotional experience and resilience: an fMRI study in fire fighters. Neuropsychologia (IF =4.73), 2013; 51(5):845-849.

El Khoury-Malhame, M., Reynaud, E., Soriano, A., Keller, M., Salgado, P., Zendjidjian, X., Gellato, C., Fakra, E., Lefebvre, MN., Rouby, F., Samuelian, JC., Anton, JL., Blin, O. and Khalfa, S. Neurofunctional Alteration of Emotional Face Processing Correlates with Attentional Bias in PTSD. Neuropsychologia (IF = 4.73), 2011; 49 (7): 1969-73.

Boukezzi S., El-Khoury-Malhame M., Auzias G., Reynaud E., Rousseau P-F., Richard E., Zendjidjian X., Roques J., Castelli N., Correard N., Guyon V., Gellato C., Samuelian J-C., Cancel A., Comte M., Latinus M., Guedj E., Khalfa S. Can the Brain recover with EMDR after PTSD. American Journal of Psychiatry (IF=12.29); submitted

Keywords: Amygdala, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), fMRI, resilience, peace, Prefrontal Cortex

Conference: International Conference - Educational Neuroscience, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 28 Feb - 29 Feb, 2016.

Presentation Type: Poster Presentation

Topic: Educational Neuroscience

Citation: El Khoury-Malhame M, Khalfa S and Reynaud E (2016). Building peace one Brain at a time; how education and neurosciences can help us deal with stress and trauma. Front. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: International Conference - Educational Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnins.2016.92.00004

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Received: 10 Feb 2016; Published Online: 23 Mar 2016.

* Correspondence: Dr. Myriam El Khoury-Malhame, Lebanese American University, Social Sciences, Beirut, Lebanon, myriam.khoury@gmail.com