In de-programming victims of Soviet era brain washing and victims of sex trafficking or religious cults in a psychophysiology laboratory at V.I. Vernadsky University in Simferopol, Russia visualization exercises along with athletic activities (horseback riding, hiking, skeet shooting, etc.) were routinely implemented, besides reading and problem solving exercises to assist the individual to re-habilitate themselves, without intense psychotherapeutic attempts nor media manipulation for intervention. Military service, or special forces training, is part of the curricula for Russian PhD students, both male and female, who, prior to becoming faculty, have survived conflict - thus dealing with PTSD symptoms and getting past them is routine and often part of achieving tenure. Somehow the imagination/visualization area is involved, as is speculated with autism in Iacoboni's articles on mirror neurons. https://www.amazon.com/Unmasking-Motivation-Monumentalizing-Generational-Trafficking/dp/6202073977/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1513987620&sr=8-1&keywords=silvia+stein
There are volumnous books written on the subject. The brain parts that are affected are dentate gyrus, amygdala, hypothalamus, pituitary, the mesolimbic system etc. Even the cortex and the association areas are affected. There are issues in cerebellum also.
The symptoms of PTSD are believed to reflect changes in the neurobiological system induced by stress.
There are several neurobiological systems implicated in PTSD, such as:
The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system, as well as Neurotransmitters (chemical substances produced by neurons "nerve cells"), Neuropeptides (Neuropeptides are basically peptides - amino acid chains used for intercellular communication, and can function as hormones or neurotransmitters) which are used by various brain regions that regulate emotions such as fear or stress including the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, or amygdala. See more in Heim & Nemeroff (2009).
PTSD is a type of learned fear!
It affects the mechanisms of learning and memory, and especially in the Amygdala (explaining the symptoms of hyperactivation, startled responses, fear or continued anxiety ...).
Severe emotional trauma causes lasting changes in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex region of the brain that is responsible for regulating emotional responses triggered by the amygdala. Specifically, this region regulates negative emotions such as fear that occur when confronted with specific stimuli.
Please refer perhaps it mayhelp you: http://brainblogger.com/2015/01/24/how-does-post-traumatic-stress-disorder-change-the-brain/
You might want to watch a video I made for explaining some of this to the genera public- It's called Taming your Komodo Dragon Schools like it so that their teachers can be trauma-informed and veterans I work with love it too. Fee l free to use it as you can.
I think the most important aspect that is generally ignored in the psychology of PTSD is the vascular dysregulation and endothelial dysfunction. Which leads to degenerative changes in the brain globally !. This aspects deserves special attention as is may serve a target for therapy.