Kun-Yuan Hsiao
Department of Chinese Medicine Tainan Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Executive Yuan
Jay-Shake Li
Department of Psychology, National Chung Cheng University
Chia-Chou Yeh
Department of Chinese Medicine, Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a collective series of overreacting responses to an impactful emotional event. Among the diverse cognitive deficits of PTSD patients, severe episodic memory (EM) impairment has attracted a lot of attention. It is well known that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays an important role in both PTSD and EM. Furthermore, Xiaoyaosan, a formula used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to relieve negative emotions, has been shown to affect the PFC neurotransmitter systems in animals. Thus, it seems reasonable to connect both PFC and EM to the pathological mechanisms of PTSD. However, no theory can yet fully describe the relationships among EM, PTSD, and TCM. In this article, we test and confirm two hypotheses: 1) a strong emotional stimulus weakens PFC functions, which leads to EM impairments; 2) Xiaoyaosan asserts it benefits by affecting PFC neurotransmitter systems.
Keywords: episodic memory, prefrontal cortex, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Xiaoyaosan