On Wednesday, American researchers revealed a groundbreaking discovery when they shared that they have been able to track a distinct pattern of brain activity in patients suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and the discovery could give doctors an effective and objective way to try and diagnose and treat the condition.

A team of experts at the University of Minnesota and the Minneapolis VA Medical Centre used a brain imaging device known as magnetoencephalography, which is basically used to track how the brain processes information, and discovered that there were definite differences in brain activities of people with PTSD and the healthy population.

The development of a proper test for PTSD could end up speeding the treatment of the condition, and also simplify insurance cover, as has been shared by Dr. Apostolos Georgopoulos of the University of Minnesota.

"What you have in this disorder is a functional disruption of brain activity. This is what we pick up in an extremely highly accurate way", said Dr. Georgopoulos.

Details of the research, which involved analysis of data collected from 74 US veterans with PTSD and 250 mentally healthy people, have been published in the Journal of Neural Engineering.