Advance in Traditional Chinese Medicine for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Effects and Mechanisms (review) / 中国康复理论与实践

ABSTRACT

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) refers to the sudden, threatening or catastrophic life events leading to delay and long-term persistence of mental disorders. Hippocampus, amygdala, prefrontal cortex and hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) may be involved in PTSD, but the exact pathogenesis is not entirely clear. Traditional Chinese Medicine, including Chinese herbs, acupuncture and emotion-thought therapy, are considered as the main methods for PTSD, which may play a role in neuroprotection, adjustment of learn-ing-memory, anti-stress, adjusting HPA, etc.