The adolescent brain: An evaluation
of neurophysiological change as a manifestation of
therapeutic interventions for PTSD
Introduction
           This paper reviews
briefly several anatomical structures or areas of the brain (the frontal lobe,
the temporal lobe, the parietal lobe, the occipital lobe, and the insula, limbic system, the corpus callosum)
and general functions attributed to each area as an overview for further
discussion relative to identifying
neurobiology of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adolescents and
children. Discussion will evolve into
the neurodevelopmental process of arborisation and
recession wherein critical learning curves exist if taken advantage of,
including those receptive to therapeutic intervention strategies aimed at re-wiring
dysfunctional and maladaptive behavioural and cognitive neural circuitry. The
existence of underlying structural damage to specific regions, such as the
hippocampus, are reviewed and discussed as potential contributors to life-time
hypersensitivity to the body’s natural flight or flight stress response. How this damage occurs – namely through
gradual neurochemical toxicity – how neurons, their
corresponding dendritic spines, axons, and synapses
respond to metabolic overload and how the regenerative effects of neuroplasticity all contribute to the shape-shifting form
and function of the brain in its trauma-state to modulated-state will be
discussed at length. Finally, this paper
explores the effects of psychotherapeutic interventions on a neurochemical level to determine whether or not
psychotherapy affects structural damage by slowing, stopping, or reversing
trauma induced damage to brain structures such as the hippocampus. Â
