Neuromodulation Approaches for the Treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Stimulating the Brain Following Exposure-based Therapy

Abstract

Exposure-based therapies, medications, or device-based brain stimulation techniques are now current therapies that are offered to individuals suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Despite the refinement and evolution of these different interventions, some individuals still remain symptomatic. Neuroscience-based knowledge suggests that fear conditioning and extinction paradigms are a good experimental model to mimic exposure-based therapy. The field has recently put considerable efforts to test various pharmacological compounds that could be used as adjuncts to therapy by increasing the consolidation of the memory that is being formed during the therapy session. In this review, we propose to use device-based brain stimulation techniques to augment the efficacy of exposure-based therapy in individuals suffering from PTSD. Rather than using it as a therapeutic tool on its own, we describe how device-based brain stimulation techniques could be used to target regions known to be dysregulated when learning and/or recalling safety memory traces in PTSD patients.