10 29 2013 Experimental Cognitive Psychology Professor Kenneth Kurtz Optogenetics in Relation to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Th e potential psychotherapeutic approaches that one can postulate from the article Scientists Trace Memories of Things That Never Happened written by James Gordon on the recent development on memory in relation to optogenetics is boundless Gordon In order to postulate the ensuing psychotherapeutic hypothesis certain information must be presented on both optogenetics and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD has led to 1 100 suicides by returning soldiers from Afghanistan since 2006 moreover in 2009 a record number 245 soldiers committed suicide because of PTSD according to the PTSD Foundation of America The current literature on PTSD is extensive yet no supreme positive empirical treatment model has transpired from the current literature As one can easily infer the PTSD epidemic is alarming and is showing no signs of decline in the near future Furthermore the DSM 5 the manual on mental disorders proposed another variation of PTSD known as Complex Trauma which is caused by prolonged exposure to traumatic events normally occurring during childhood DSM 5 It seems as if the problem is growing and the solution is fugacious A paradigm shift is imperative One possible solution is the advancement of optogenetic research which will shed even greater light on the role of the amygdala in PTSD Complex Trauma As stated in a Towards New Approach to Disorders of Fear and Anxiety a article published in June 2013 by Brian Dias in the Journal of Social and Emotional Neuroscience there needs to be a renaissance in the treatment study of fear and anxiety and among these newer promising treatments we include optogenetic Dias 2013 This statement could be taken one step further and applied not only to fear and anxiety but also to PTSD because some of the fundamental roots of PTSD are fear and anxiety Shin 2009 A myriad of research has been done on the role of the amygdala in individuals with PTSD Shin 2004 In 2006 Lisa Shin a distinguished professor at Tufts University in Boston published Amygdala Medial Prefrontal Cortex and Hippocampal Function in PTSD which depicted the important role that the amygdala plays in PTSD Shin 2006 This study and the preponderance of past studies have used neuroimaging to determine which brain regions are involved with PTSD The need for determining a better treatment model for individuals with PTSD is evident as soon as one glances over the contemporary statistics of how many individuals are suffering from PTSD and the deleterious outcomes that transpire from their suffering Therefore the use of optogenetics for studying the amygdala with greater minutia on people suffering from PTSD will increase the current pool of knowledge on trauma as proposed by Towards New Approach to Disorders of Fear and Anxiety and this knowledge will augment the current literature on the role the amygdala plays in individuals with PTSD therefore leading to a proposition of a better treatment model