Association Between Racism and Neural Responses to Threat in Black Women in the United States Exposed to Trauma.

JAMA Psychiatry. 2021;78(9):1005-1012. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.1480

Commentary

This study was designed to investigate the relationship between whole brain responses to threat-related cues and discriminatory experiences in trauma-exposed Black women in the United States while engaged in a careful and demanding job.

The study was a cross-sectional study conducted from May 1, 2014 to July 1, 2019 in 55 U.S. Black women exposed to trauma.

Results showed that in this study of 55 Black women in the United States, participants had a mean (SD) TEI frequency of 33.0 (18.8), indicating a moderate level of

This gives this indication of the current rate of PTSD symptoms. (Mean [SD] PSS score, 15.4 [12.9])

The mean (SD) EOD score of 2.35 (2.44) was moderately correlated with current PTSD symptoms (PSS total: r = .36; P = .009), but not with age (r = .20; P = .15) or TEI frequency (TEI frequency.

It was observed that the severity of trauma and PTSD symptoms increased with increased experience of racism during attention to trauma-related and neutral images. Thus, racism was also associated with performance on the Emotional Stroop Task, and test errors involving threat-related stimuli were negatively correlated with the experience of racism.

These findings, the researchers explain, suggest that the experience of racism is associated with disproportionately large responses in brain regions related to emotion regulation and fear suppression and visual attention.

The racism frequently experienced by Blacks may enhance attentional and regulatory responses to trauma-related stressors and enhance the regulation of regulatory resources.