‘I am afraid you will see the stain on my soul’: Direct gaze neural processing in individuals with PTSD after moral injury recall

Direct eye contact is essential to understanding others’ thoughts and feelings in social interactions. However, those with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and exposure to moral injury (MI) may exhibit altered theory-of-mind (ToM)/mentalizing processes and experience shame which precludes one’s capacity for direct eye contact. We investigated blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) responses associated with direct vs averted gaze using a virtual reality paradigm in individuals with PTSD (n = 28) relative to healthy controls (n = 18) following recall of a MI vs a neutral memory. Associations between BOLD responses and clinical symptomatology were also assessed. After MI recall, individuals with PTSD showed greater activation in the right temporoparietal junction as compared to controls (T = 4.83; pFDR < 0.001; k = 237) during direct gaze. No significant activation occurred during direct gaze after neutral memory recall. Further, a significant positive correlation was found between feelings of distress and right medial superior frontal gyrus activation in individuals with PTSD (T = 5.03; pFDR = 0.049; k = 123). These findings suggest that direct gaze after MI recall prompts compensatory ToM/mentalizing processing. Implications for future interventions aimed at mitigating the effects of PTSD on social functioning are discussed.