Posttraumatic stress disorder and neurocognition: A bidirectional relationship?

Abstract

There are well-known associations between PTSD and neurocognition, however, the direction of causality between the two is not well-understood. Neurocognition may alter risk of the development and maintenance of PTSD. Conversely, PTSD may pose risk to neurocognitive integrity. With cognitive and neurobiological conceptualizations of PTSD as a backdrop, this review will summarize results from several lines of research including preclinical, human analogue, retrospective, longitudinal, and treatment studies to inform the directional relationships between PTSD and neurocognition. Based on the collective findings from these related literatures, we suggest that a negative feedback loop between PTSD and neurocognition exists but that PTSD treatment and cognitive enhancement strategies may break this loop.

Keywords: Cognitive functioning; Neuropsychology; PTSD; Resilience; Risk.