Trauma and the brain
Trauma changes our brains. The Hippocampus is where our new information or short-term memories move to longer-term memory. The Amygdala is located next to the Hippocampus and it is our instinctual part of the brain, some call it the “lizard brain.” When our “thinking brain,” the pre-frontal cortex, detects/interprets danger - it “shuts down” or goes “off-line.” The Amygdala then instinctually chooses flight, fight or freeze according to what is most likely to protect us in the moment. This is not a cognitive choice as our thinking brain is not working at this point. Our hippocampus cannot record and process memories as there is no context from the thinking brain. The Amygdala records the situation like a polaroid camera clicking repeatedly and the pictures dropping to the floor as they slide out. When you look down at the pile of pictures, you have no idea what order they go in. At this point the memory is stored maladaptively as it has not processed through the hippocampus. In the future, when something happens that is scary or uncomfortable, you may be “triggered” and feel the emotions that go with the past traumatic memory even though those emotions do not match the current situation. Others may view you as “overreacting.” This also accounts for why people who have encountered a traumatic event or been triggered by past trauma are unable to give a full and chronological account of what occurred, their brain did not record it that way. This can be confusing for law enforcement when taking statements and may appear as though the person is lying when, in fact, they are doing the best they can with how their brain stored the information.
What tends to happen when the trauma stays maladaptively stored is that the hippocampus shrinks and the amygdala gets larger. This is seen in functional MRI’s of people who have encountered trauma, and this means that the fight, flight, freeze response is on high alert. What typically brings people into the office for counseling is the frequency of the amygdala being triggered into fight, flight or freeze. The triggers are often felt inside the body as the body remembers and holds the trauma.
There are multiple ways we address this. Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR) is a technique which helps bring our thinking brain back in to watch the memory and provide context in a safe environment. This helps to file the memory adaptively. Somatic therapy techniques and things like mindfulness and restorative yoga help to reconnect the body and mind which reduces the symptoms felt in the body. Sandtray therapy also accesses both sides of the brain as EMDR does and can help provide context through creativity. Often we start counseling with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to build rapport, assess the status of the client and what they are ready to address, build trust, and build comfort with the process of therapy. It also allows challenging of cognitive distortions we often have from trauma. With children we start with play therapy and watch the themes play out. Play therapy also accesses both sides of the brain to the point they are developed, we have to take into account where the brain is in development. The analytical and reasoning part of the brain does not start developing prior to middle school so talk focused therapy does not do much in the younger ages.
If you have been through trauma you likely want to get into some counseling to address it. You also can start utilizing hand writing to help move things into longer term memory. Hand writing notes is always better to retain information than typing or just listening or just watching and listening. You can start a practice of writing down what you are grateful for daily. You can do so at the start of the day and review it at bedtime and add anything you think of to the list or just journal it in the morning or just at bedtime. Keep the number of things below five so you don’t overwhelm yourself and you can actually focus on what you wrote down. If you would like an appointment with us, click on: Request Appointment.
