Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38897303›Full record

ArticleJournal of affective disorders2024

Posttraumatic survivor guilt is associated with white matter microstructure alterations.

Philine Rojczyk, Johanna Seitz-Holland, Carina Heller, Sofia Marcolini, Amy D Marshall, Valerie J Sydnor, Elisabeth Kaufmann, Leonard B Jung, Elena M Bonke, Luisa Berger and 12 more

Abstract read
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Article in Journal of affective disorders, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

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No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

22 authors.

Philine RojczykPsychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; cBRAIN, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.
Johanna Seitz-HollandPsychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Carina HellerPsychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany; Department of Clinical Psychology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany; German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), Partner Site Jena-Magdeburg-Halle, Jena, Germany; Center for Intervention and Research on adaptive and maladaptive brain Circuits underlying mental health (C-I-R-C), Partner Site Jena-Magdeburg-Halle, Jena, Germany.
Sofia MarcoliniPsychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Neurology, Alzheimer Center Groningen, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
Amy D MarshallDepartment of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, PA, USA.
Valerie J SydnorPsychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Elisabeth KaufmannPsychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Neurology, LMU University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany.
Leonard B JungPsychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; cBRAIN, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.
Elena M BonkePsychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; cBRAIN, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.
Luisa BergerPsychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; cBRAIN, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.
Lisa F UmmingerPsychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; cBRAIN, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.
Tim L T WiegandPsychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; cBRAIN, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.
Kang Ik K ChoPsychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Yogesh RathiPsychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Sylvain BouixPsychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Software Engineering and Information Technology, École de technologie supérieure, Université du Québec, Montréal, QC, Canada.
Ofer PasternakPsychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Sidney R HindsDepartment of Neurology, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Catherine B FortierTranslational Research Center for TBI and Stress Disorders (TRACTS) and Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center (GRECC), VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
David SalatTranslational Research Center for TBI and Stress Disorders (TRACTS) and Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center (GRECC), VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA; Neuroimaging Research for Veterans (NeRVe) Center, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA; Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Radiology, Boston, MA, USA.
William P MilbergTranslational Research Center for TBI and Stress Disorders (TRACTS) and Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center (GRECC), VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Neuroimaging Research for Veterans (NeRVe) Center, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA.
Martha E ShentonPsychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, VA Boston Healthcare System, Brockton, MA, USA.
Inga K KoertePsychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; cBRAIN, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany; Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, VA Boston Healthcare System, Brockton, MA, USA; Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany. Electronic address: ikoerte@bwh.harvard.edu.

Funding

Training and DisseminationP41EB015902 · NIBIB · BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL · PI WESTIN, CARL-FREDRIK · 2012 to 2022
$20.9M
SGM Administrative SupplementR01NS115957 · NINDS · RBHS-SCHOOL/ HEALTH RELATED PROFESSIONS · PI ESOPENKO, CARRIE LYNN, HILLARY, FRANK GERARD · 2021 to 2025
$3.4M
Sex Differences in Brain Structure and Function After Sports-Related ConcussionR01NS100952 · NINDS · BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL · PI KOERTE, INGA KATHARINA · 2017 to 2022
$2.9M
NIBIB NIH HHS P41 EB015902NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS100952NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS115957RRD VA I01 RX000928
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMilitary veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) commonly experience posttraumatic guilt. Guilt over commission or omission evolves when responsibility is assumed for an unfortunate outcome (e.g., the death of a fellow combatant). Survivor guilt is a state of intense emotional distress experienced by the weight of knowing that one survived while others did not.

methodsThis study of the Translational Research Center for TBI and Stress Disorders (TRACTS) analyzed structural and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging data from 132 male Iraq/Afghanistan veterans with PTSD. The Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-IV (CAPS-IV) was employed to classify guilt. Thirty (22.7 %) veterans experienced guilt over acts of commission or omission, 34 (25.8 %) experienced survivor guilt, and 68 (51.5 %) had no posttraumatic guilt. White matter microstructure (fractional anisotropy, FA), cortical thickness, and cortical volume were compared between veterans with guilt over acts of commission or omission, veterans with survivor guilt, and veterans without guilt.

resultsVeterans with survivor guilt had significantly lower white matter FA compared to veterans who did not experience guilt (p < .001), affecting several regions of major white matter fiber bundles. There were no significant differences in white matter FA, cortical thickness, or volumes between veterans with guilt over acts of commission or omission and veterans without guilt (p > .050). LIMITATIONS: This cross-sectional study with exclusively male veterans precludes inferences of causality between the studied variables and generalizability to the larger veteran population that includes women.

conclusionSurvivor guilt may be a particularly impactful form of posttraumatic guilt that requires specific treatment efforts targeting brain health.

Indexed as

GuiltStress Disorders, Post-TraumaticSurvivorsVeteransWhite MatterAdultAfghan Campaign 2001-Diffusion Magnetic Resonance ImagingHumansIraq War, 2003-2011MaleMiddle AgeddMRIDTIMoral injuryPosttraumatic stress disorderveterans

Identifiers

PMID38897303
PMCPMC12322324

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