Decreased gray matter concentrations:
- Right hippocampus
- Right dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)
- Right orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)

Altered activations:
- Left hippocampus
- Parahippocampal gyrus

Disturbances in these emotional processing regions:
- Left ventral ACC
- Dorsal ACC
- Dorsomedial prefrontal cortex
- Left ventrolateral prefrontal
- OFC

Childhood abuse c-PTSD neuroimaging studies: Specific Brain Region Results

In the brains of these patients with childhood abuse c-PTSD, neuroimaging revealed decreases in gray matter concentration, altered activations in the hippocampus, and disturbances in regions essential for emotional processing. 

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Four neuroimaging studies were done on childhood abuse-related c-PTSD patients to study brain anatomy and activity under c-PTSD.

Four neuroimaging studies and childhood abuse c-PTSD

Marinova, Z., & Maercker, A. (2015). Biological correlates of complex posttraumatic stress disorder-state of research and future directions. European journal of psychotraumatology, 6, 25913. https://doi.org/10.3402/ejpt.v6.25913

Biological correlates of complex posttraumatic stress disorder—state of research and future directions

All four studies made use of the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (CAPS) and structured interview for Disorders of Extreme Stress (SIDES) diagnostic tools. For neuroimaging, three studies used functional MRI while one used structural MRI.

Childhood abuse c-PTSD neuroimaging studies: Methods

One disclaimer for these studies is that they only cover childhood abuse c-PTSD and not other trauma types. Therefore, more research on other types should be done for a more complete picture of how c-PTSD affects the brain. The other disclaimer for these studies is that they covered symptoms that fell under "Disorders of Extreme Stress Not Otherwise Specifiied" (DESNOS). So while c-PTSD is covered, the study also focus on PTSD aspects outside the ICD-11 criteria for c-PTSD.

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