The Traumatized Brain

Neuroscience research indicates that trauma affects the structures of the brain which causes the way the brain functions after trauma to deviate from the way a non-traumatized brain functions.  

Let’s start with the amygdala.  The amygdala is the emotional center for the brain that is located in the mammalian brain and acts like the smoke detector for the brain.  When a traumatic event occurs, the emotional memory is stored in the amygdala and when something triggers that memory the smoke detector goes off telling your body that you are in danger.  

When the amygdala sounds the alarm, the reptilian brain responds and we may see changes in heart rate and breathing as well as experience tenseness in muscles throughout the body.  During this we either speed up or slow down.  This is where we see fight, flight, or freeze instincts kick in. 

Additionally when the amygdala sends signals of distress the memory centers in the frontal lobes shut down and a person is left feeling overwhelmed by emotion and impulses and are unable to recall events.  

Here’s a video with animation and a song that may explain the traumatized brain:

Some questions to think about and type a brief response to. 

How does your brain respond in a traumatic event? 

 Are there ways you recognize your ability to think clearly suffer?  What responses do you recognize in your body when you are triggered that may be caused by the reptilian brain? 

Do you tend to fight, freeze, or flee in triggering situations?