Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39603414›Full record

ArticleBiological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging2025

Social Buffering of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Longitudinal Effects and Neural Mediators.

Justin L C Santos, Nathaniel G Harnett, Sanne J H van Rooij, Timothy D Ely, Tanja Jovanovic, Lauren A M Lebois, Francesca L Beaudoin, Xinming An, Thomas C Neylan, Sarah D Linnstaedt and 29 more

Abstract readMulticenter Study
In one paragraph

Article in Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

The trial behind it

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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

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

39 authors.

Justin L C SantosDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia.
Nathaniel G HarnettDivision of Depression and Anxiety, McLean Hospital, Belmont, Massachusetts; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
Sanne J H van RooijDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia.
Timothy D ElyDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia.
Tanja JovanovicDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan.
Lauren A M LeboisDivision of Depression and Anxiety, McLean Hospital, Belmont, Massachusetts; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
Francesca L BeaudoinDepartment of Epidemiology, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island; Department of Emergency Medicine, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.
Xinming AnInstitute for Trauma Recovery, Department of Anesthesiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Thomas C NeylanDepartment of Psychiatry and Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
Sarah D LinnstaedtInstitute for Trauma Recovery, Department of Anesthesiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Laura T GermineDepartment of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Institute for Technology in Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, Belmont, Massachusetts; The Many Brains Project, Belmont, Massachusetts.
Kenneth A BollenDepartment of Psychology and Neuroscience and Department of Sociology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Scott L RauchDepartment of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Institute for Technology in Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, Belmont, Massachusetts; Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, Belmont, Massachusetts.
John P HaranDepartment of Emergency Medicine, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts.
Alan B StorrowDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee.
Christopher LewandowskiDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, Michigan.
Paul I MuseyDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana.
Phyllis L HendryDepartment of Emergency Medicine, University of Florida College of Medicine, Jacksonville, Jacksonville, Florida.
Sophia SheikhDepartment of Emergency Medicine, University of Florida College of Medicine, Jacksonville, Jacksonville, Florida.
Christopher W JonesDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, Camden, New Jersey.
Brittany E PunchesDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, Ohio; Ohio State University College of Nursing, Columbus, Ohio.
Jose L PascualDepartment of Surgery and Department of Neurosurgery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Mark J SeamonPerelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Division of Traumatology, Surgical Critical Care and Emergency Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Erica HarrisDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Einstein Medical Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Claire PearsonDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Wayne State University, Ascension St. John Hospital, Detroit, Michigan.
David A PeakDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
Roland C MerchantDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
Robert M DomeierDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Trinity Health, Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Michigan.
Niels K RathlevDepartment of Emergency Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School-Baystate, Springfield, Massachusetts.
Brian J O'NeilDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Wayne State University, Detroit Receiving Hospital, Detroit, Michigan.
Paulina SergotDepartment of Emergency Medicine, McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, Houston, Texas.
Leon D SanchezDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
Steven E BruceDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri - St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri.
Diego A PizzagalliDivision of Depression and Anxiety, McLean Hospital, Belmont, Massachusetts; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
Steven E HarteDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan; Department of Internal Medicine-Rheumatology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Kerry J ResslerDivision of Depression and Anxiety, McLean Hospital, Belmont, Massachusetts; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
Karestan C KoenenDepartment of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts.
Samuel A McLeanDepartment of Emergency Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Institute for Trauma Recovery, Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Jennifer S StevensDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia. Electronic address: jennifer.stevens@emory.edu.

Funding

Longitudinal Assessment of Post-traumatic SyndromesU01MH110925 · NIMH · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · PI KESSLER, RONALD C, KOENEN, KARESTAN C · 2016 to 2020
$25.8M
Medical Scientist Training ProgramT32GM142617 · NIGMS · EMORY UNIVERSITY · PI Jason Yustein · 2022 to 2026
$7.0M
Early Life Stress and Depression: Molecular and Functional Imaging ApproachesR01MH095809 · NIMH · MCLEAN HOSPITAL · PI DU, FEI, PIZZAGALLI, DIEGO A · 2012 to 2024
$6.4M
Extracellular vesicles as biomarkers of trauma exposure and PTSD riskR01MH129495 · NIMH · UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER · PI Tracy L Bale, Tanja Jovanovic · 2022 to 2026
$4.0M
Mobile Measures of Threat Sensitivity for Cross-sectional and Longitudinal AssessmentR01MH121617 · NIMH · MCLEAN HOSPITAL · PI GERMINE, LAURA THI · 2020 to 2025
$3.9M
Individual Variation in Effects of Traumatic Stress on Gray Matter MyelinR01MH115020 · NIMH · NORTHERN CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE/RES/EDU · PI KAUFER, DANIELA, NEYLAN, THOMAS C · 2019 to 2023
$3.9M
Investigating Fear System Myelination in PTSD Using In Vivo and Post Mortem DataR01MH132617 · NIMH · NORTHERN CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE/RES/EDU · PI HUBER, BERTRAND R, NEYLAN, THOMAS C · 2023 to 2025
$2.1M
Effect of TMS on PTSD Neuroimaging and Psychophysiological BiomarkersK01MH121653 · NIMH · EMORY UNIVERSITY · PI VAN ROOIJ, SANNE JH · 2020 to 2024
$894k
Multimodal characterization of affective visual processing in the early aftermath of traumaK01MH129828 · NIMH · MCLEAN HOSPITAL · PI Nathaniel G Harnett · 2023 to 2026
$719k
Characterizing the Neurobiology of Pathological Dissociation: Mechanisms of Face Perception and Self Referential ProcessingK01MH118467 · NIMH · MCLEAN HOSPITAL · PI LEBOIS, LAUREN ANN MCDONOUGH · 2019 to 2022
$679k
NIGMS NIH HHS T32 GM142617NIMH NIH HHS K01 MH118467NIMH NIH HHS K01 MH121653NIMH NIH HHS K01 MH129828NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH095809NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH115020NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH121617NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH129495NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH132617NIMH NIH HHS U01 MH110925
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPosttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a well-characterized psychiatric disorder that features changes in mood and arousal following traumatic events. Previous animal and human studies of social support during the peritraumatic window have demonstrated a buffering effect with regard to acute biological and psychological stress symptoms. Fewer studies have explored the magnitude of and mechanism through which early posttrauma social support can reduce longitudinal PTSD severity.

methodsIn this study, we investigated the beneficial impact of social support on longitudinal PTSD symptoms and probed brain regions sensitive to this buffering phenomenon, such as the amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. In the multisite AURORA study, 315 participants reported PTSD symptoms (PTSD Checklist for DSM-5) and perceived emotional support (Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System) at 2 weeks, 8 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months post emergency department visit. Additionally, neuroimaging data were collected at 2 weeks posttrauma.

resultsWe hypothesized that early posttrauma social support would be linked with greater fractional anisotropic values in white matter tracts that have known connectivity between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex and would predict reduced neural reactivity to social threat cues in the amygdala. Interestingly, while we observed greater fractional anisotropy in the bilateral cingulum and bilateral uncinate fasciculus as a function of early posttrauma emotional support, we also identified greater threat reactivity in the precuneus/posterior cingulate, a component of the default mode network.

conclusionsOur findings suggest that the neurocircuitry underlying the response to social threat cues is facilitated through broader pathways that involve the posterior hub of the default mode network.

Indexed as

AmygdalaPrefrontal CortexSocial SupportStress Disorders, Post-TraumaticWhite MatterAdultDiffusion Tensor ImagingFemaleHumansLongitudinal StudiesMagnetic Resonance ImagingMaleMiddle AgedYoung AdultDiffusion-weighted imagingFunctional magnetic resonance imagingNeuroimagingPosttraumatic stress disorderSocial buffering

Identifiers

PMID39603414
PMCPMC12058427

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.