Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorders (SUDs) co-occur at a significantly high rate, with estimates of PTSD and alcohol use disorder comorbidity ranging between 36 percent and 52 percent (Mills, Teesson, Ross, & Peters, 2006). Within the literature exists strong evidence of fundamental neurological and neuropsychological correlates of this comorbidity, each condition subject to the physiodynamic synergism of their coexistence. Neuroanatomical structures such as the dorsal and rostral anterior cingulate cortices (ACC), as well as the amygdala, have been implicated as bases for the seemingly adaptive self-medication of hyperarousal and other trauma-related states (Loflin, Earleywine, & Bonn-Miller, 2017; Vujanovic, Bonn-Miller, & Petry, 2016).
