2024-10-21 16:00:00
Florian Ferreri, psychiatrist and co-head of the Paris-Centre-Sud psychotrauma reference center, installs transcranial stimulation devices to treat post-traumatic stress. At Saint-Antoine hospital (AP-HP), in Paris, October 18, 2024. JULIE BALAGUÉ FOR “LE MONDE”
This October morning, in a small room in the psychiatry department of Saint-Antoine hospital (AP-HP), in Paris, Julien – his first name has been changed – is seated in an armchair, with, on his head, a sort of green neoprene cap. Delicately, psychiatrist Alexis Bourla moves a robotic arm to properly position an electromagnetic coil on his scalp, in order to deliver magnetic pulses to the target brain area: the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. This area is involved in particular in the management of memory, decision-making, and the control of impulses and emotions, including the fear circuit.
Julien is participating in a randomized, double-blind study – patients and doctors do not know whether the treatment is a placebo or not – carried out at Saint-Antoine hospital, Pitié-Salpêtrière and in various university hospitals in France, which must include around a hundred patients and aims to measure the effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), associated with memory reactivation, in patients suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Three weekly sessions are planned for four weeks.
Half of the participants were subjected to placebo stimulation, without a magnetic pulse. This national study is coordinated by Florian Ferreri, psychiatrist and co-head of the Paris-Centre-Sud psychotrauma reference center at Saint-Antoine hospital. This is an innovative approach for a disorder which is, today, at the center of several research studies. PTSD occurs after a traumatic event (natural disasters, attacks, wars, rape, etc.) with a risk of death. The most harmful involve interpersonal violence and an intentional act. We speak of simple trauma (single or time-limited event) or complex (repeated).
Memory pathology
While most victims will not suffer from PTSD, some develop particularly disabling symptoms. Repeated relivings of the event, with flashbacks, intrusive images, nightmares, avoidance of situations reminiscent of the trauma, negative thoughts, withdrawal into oneself. Added to this are hypervigilance, sleep disorders, anxiety… So many symptoms which alter the personal, social and professional lives of these mentally injured people.
PTSD is also a memory pathology. Often, it is associated with other disorders: addictions, behavioral disorders, depression, suicidal risk. Not to mention the possible consequences on somatic health, particularly on the cardiovascular level.
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