Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33178406›Full record

ArticleEuropean journal of psychotraumatology2020

The sense of self in the aftermath of trauma: lessons from the default mode network in posttraumatic stress disorder.

Ruth A Lanius, Braeden A Terpou, Margaret C McKinnon

Registry-linked trialOpen access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in European journal of psychotraumatology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06035809 (The Effects of Sensory Motor Arousal Regulation Treatment), which is not on this map. Cited by 46 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
46citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
4.8field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT06035809 narecruitingnot on this mapstarted 2026, after this paper: background citation

The Effects of Sensory Motor Arousal Regulation Treatment (SMART) on Adults With PTSD

TypeinterventionalSponsorLondon Health Sciences Centre Research Institute OR Lawson Research Institute of St. Joseph'sRan2026 to 2028Enrolled80ConditionsPTSD, Post-traumatic Stress DisorderArmsSMART
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

46 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 143 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  7. Ketamine-induced analgesia and dissociation show distinct behavioral and neural correlates.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026
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  19. Post-traumatic stress disorder: evolving conceptualization and evidence, and future research directions.World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Ruth A LaniusDepartment of Neuroscience, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3758-1393
Braeden A TerpouDepartment of Neuroscience, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6770-2715
Margaret C McKinnonMood Disorders Program, St. Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Western University · CAHomewood Research Institute · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Trauma can profoundly affect the sense of self, where both cognitive and somatic disturbances to the sense of self are reported clinically by individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These disturbances are captured eloquently by clinical accounts, such as, 'I do not know myself anymore,' 'I will never be able to experience normal emotions again,' and, 'I feel dead inside.' Self-related thoughts and experiences are represented neurobiologically by a large-scale, cortical network located along the brain's mid-line and referred to as the default mode network (DMN). Recruited predominantly during rest in healthy participants, the DMN is also active during self-referential and autobiographical memory processing - processes which, collectively, are thought to provide the foundation for a stable sense of self that persists across time and may be available for conscious access. In participants with PTSD, however, the DMN shows substantially reduced resting-state functional connectivity as compared to healthy individuals, with greater reductions associated with heightened PTSD symptom severity. Critically, individuals with PTSD describe frequently that their traumatic experiences have become intimately linked to their perceived sense of self, a perception which may be mediated, in part, by alterations in the DMN. Accordingly, identification of alterations in the functional connectivity of the DMN during rest, and during subliminal, trauma-related stimulus conditions, has the potential to offer critical insight into the dynamic interplay between trauma- and self-related processing in PTSD. Here, we discuss DMN-related alterations during these conditions, pointing further towards the clinical significance of these findings in relation to past- and present-centred therapies for the treatment of PTSD.

Indexed as

default mode networkMDMAmedial prefrontal cortexpast-centredposterior cingulate cortexpresent-centred treatmentPTSDsense of selfsomatictrauma• Trauma may impact significantly an individual's sense of self.• The default mode network is thought to confer a stable sense of self.• We discuss alterations in connectivity in this network in PTSD and their clinical significance.treatment

Identifiers

PMID33178406
PMCPMC7594748
OpenAlexW3094488261

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.