Understanding PTSD symptoms- Part 1, Trauma Brain
Life was going just fine, and then the thing happened that changed it all. It is the thing that you wish you could forget, they thing you want to erase, the thing that wakes you up in the night, and that thing that just wont let you move on. You know that thing I am talking about. It left you a parting gift of symptoms that changed your life. That parting gift has been labeled as PTSD. Simply put, you experienced something horrible, and now you have trauma brain. Before we can get into understanding the symptoms, it is helpful to understand why your brain is doing this to you.
There are three main parts of your brain that are affected by trauma. These are the amygdala, the hippocampus, and the prefrotnal cortex. Now I am not going to bore you with details and get into the medical stuff of it. But it helps to understand what is happening in your brain so you can understand what I mean when I say "trauma brain".
The big thing to keep in mind is the stress hormone, cortisol. It does a number on the brain and body!
First we have the amygdala. This part controls the fight, flight, and freeze response. You know those guys, right? Well, when we experience something that triggers a fear response, stress hormones are released and off you go into survival mode. You get a split second to decide 1) will I fight so maybe I will survive, 2) will I run so that I will survive, or 3) will I freeze so that maybe it will hurt less or they will move on and I will survive. For specific reasons, your body will experience symptoms to prepare you for your choice such as increased heart rate, rapid breathing, shaking, bowel changes, hearing and vision changes, muscle tension, and other things. Those are a part of it and totally explainable….for another time if perhaps you are curious. No matter the threat, a spider or someone trying to hurt you, your body does what it needs to in order to keep you safe.
Then we have the hippocampus. This is the part of the brain that is responsible for moving new experiences into long term memory storage. Because your brain is putting so much into survival, it does not have time to properly store memories. This causes us to not recall certain events during the trauma. Also, when we experience something traumatic, cortisol (stress hormone) is released, which kind of attacks the hippocampus. So we tend to just focus our attention on the emotions and don’t worry too much about the new information.
Last is the prefrontal cortex. This part is the lead in thinking, emotions, and some other major pieces. Then that stress hormone cortisol comes along and, much like the hippocampus, cannot function. Your brain is so focused on survival in the moment that these functions are not as important. Your ability to make thoughtful decisions goes out the window, you cant think of consequences for your actions (perhaps why people in scary movies make the stupid decisions), you cannot regulate your emotions so you feel utterly irrational…the prefrontal cortex plays a huge part in our behaviors with trauma brain.
So lets sum this up and say there is a threat. You made a mistake and decide to trap yourself in a cage with a lion (we all make mistakes). The lion thinks to himself "finally, tasty treat time" and lunges at you. Your brain, within a split second decides it will fight. So, your body gets flooded with the hormones, your heart rate increases so you get more oxygen and your muscles tighten to prepare you. After it is over, you wont remember too much about the specifics, but you will remember the fear, the second when you thought you would die or the moment you knew you would get away. Your brain associates that fear of death with a roar. So anytime you hear a loud noise…you are right back in the cage with the lion, experiencing all the tension and racing heart all over again and try to fight whatever is around you at the time.
Remember, you are wired for survival. When there is a threat, your brain and body does what it is made to do so that you survive. You are not thinking about others safety or feelings (prefrontal cortex is shut off), you don’t remember things that are important and would give you info you need to be rational (perhaps why people in scary movies run upstairs instead of outside). You just want to survive.
