The Brain Rewired
Welcome back, readers! Last time, we discussed trauma and how it initially affects our brains. We also reviewed the primary functions of the brain and how those become altered once having experienced trauma.
In today’s post, I’m going to continue the discussion of the brain and its affects from trauma, but looking at it from a perspective of how it structurally changes due to its experiences. Please remember, it’s important that you don't discredit your experiences and symptoms due to having encountered a “big T” or “little T” trauma, the effects can be detrimental regardless.
Trauma inevitably changes the brain.
Sometimes, as human beings, we get caught up in the idea that we can “fix” everything, or even just the idea that if we put enough time and effort into something we are able to make it better. However, when dealing with trauma, it’s important to note that traumatic stress will inevitably chain the brain’s chemical balance, regardless of what you do to “fix” it. This change in chemicals will ultimately change the brain’s structure. In doing so, altering your day-to-day functionality, as well. It can be shown in a major or minor way, depending on the type of traumatic stress as well as how often you experience(d) it.
One disorder that may be familiar to you would be post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. This develops due to ongoing/severe traumatic stress event(s). Those diagnosed with this may report consistently experiencing heightened anxiety, acting impulsively, and having a difficult time regulating their emotions. This is just one of the disorders that one can be diagnosed with from experiencing severe traumatic stress. But, for this diagnosis to be made, the changes in the brain must have already taken place, meaning the damage from the trauma has already occurred and will require immense effort on the individual as well as mental health professionals to ensure the healing process takes place, which we will address later.
Traumatic Stress and its Effects on Different Parts of the Brain
If you’ve been following this series from the beginning, you now have a good understanding of what trauma is, and how it begins to affect the brain, but now I’d like to go over the different parts of the brain and how they are altered throughout time with these experiences.
Activation of the Amygdala
What is the amygdala and its primary purpose? It’s an almond-shaped structure whose main purpose is to process emotions. In other words, it helps you regulate how to respond to fear and create emotional memories. Remember what happens when we experience trauma? Yep, that fight-flight-freeze response, where our brain immediately senses danger and wants to protect us from it. Therefore, when traumatic stress occurs, the amygdala becomes over-activated.
Which makes sense that when the amygdala is overactive it is working double-time to make sure our fear responses become more intense. This means our memories of traumatic events turn into nightmares and sometimes, even flashbacks. This can also include an increase in emotionally driven thoughts that become extremely intrusive, eventually preventing us from getting sleep.
An overactive amygdala causes our brain to have a difficult time differentiating between a previous threat and a current threat, therefore when we are reminded (or triggered) of a traumatic experience, the amygdala will respond in the exact same way it would if we were experiencing that trauma for the first time. This means we are on high alert all the time and it causes us to feel as though we are constantly on edge.
It’s also important to note that an overactive amygdala can look different in each person, but almost always causes us to display more fear than not. Some other symptoms that can be caused by an overactive amygdala include:
chronic stress
heightened fear
increased irritation
inability to calm down (de-escalate)
insomnia
Shrinking of the Hippocampus
What is the hippocampus and its primary purpose? This is the part of the brain responsible for storing and retrieving memories as well as differentiating between the past and present experiences. Just like other mental disorders, studies have also found that experiencing trauma and living with high levels of stress can decrease the volume of the hippocampus (shrinking). This makes sense why it then becomes difficult for us to distinguish the difference in the past and present experiences.
Because of the shrinking of the hippocampus, when we find ourselves in environments that remind of us the traumatic experience (trigger) we may find that we experience higher levels of fear, stress, and panic. This is due to the brain’s inability to be able to easily create and remember the new memories, all while keeping the old traumatic memories at the forefront of our minds. This causes us to live in a constant state of hyper vigilance and intense emotional reactivity.
Decrease Function in the Prefrontal Cortex (PFC)
What is the prefrontal cortex and its primary purpose? It helps us to reason well, regulate and understand emotions, control impulses, and solve complex problems. Traumatic stress causes a diminish in functionality of the PFC. In turn, this naturally decreases our ability to learn new information, manage our emotions effectively, and solve problems in general. Basically, with a decrease in PFC functionality, we find it difficult to think logically, which makes us feel incapable of controlling our fear. This inability to remain in control of the fear we are feeling is an intense response we are experiencing from the other parts of our brain due to traumatic stress.
So, how does this affect us in our daily lives?
It’s important to note, that traumatic stress does require time to affect the structure of your brain, but once that change has taken place it can dramatically affect your day-to-day life. It creates higher levels of stress hormones, an overactive amygdala, shrunken hippocampus, and less active PFC causing several different symptoms:
anxiety
insomnia
irritability
flashbacks
nightmares
panic attacks
memory issues
poor concentration
trouble making decisions
difficulty learning new things
Another side effect of traumatic stress can be generic fatigue. If the brain is in a constant state of “protection” and working to protect us from perceived threats, we begin to feel emotionally, physically, and mentally exhausted. By constantly feeling this way, daily responsibilities and self-care activities begin to feel more like chores, and things we view as unnecessary.
By living with a brain that’s always on alert to protect you from danger, it can also make it difficult to form and maintain healthy relationships. When you are constantly feeling threatened, paranoid, and afraid, you may find it difficult to pick up on how those around you feel and think, eventually leading to communication problems, essentially putting strains on important relationships within your life.
Now I understand how trauma affects my brain and why I respond the way I do, but can I heal from this?
The short answer is yes. You may not be able to completely heal and forget about the trauma you have experienced, but you can learn to better manage your symptoms and disorder in a way that you form a healthier and happier lifestyle.
Some of the evidence-based therapies suggested include, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), and Eye Movement Desensitization Therapy (EMDR). Aside from these specific techniques, individual therapy, group therapy, trauma therapy, family therapy and process groups are all great options as well. The important thing to note is that it is possible to move forward!
Recap and putting it all together.
It’s no secret that trauma is detrimental, nor is it a secret that no one wants to face the consequences of how it affects us in the aftermath. But…there is hope. With proper education on how trauma affects the brain and the different symptoms that are caused by the structural changes of the brain, allows us to understand the “why” behind some of our responses. When we know the “why” it is sometimes easier to not only move forward, but to begin working on the healing process.
By knowing how our brain works and the different changes it undergoes due to traumatic stress, it helps us differentiate the components that are within our control versus the ones that are not. In doing so, it helps us determine proper goals to work toward in our healing process. It may also help us understand and view medication as a necessary piece for our healing process, if only to help with the chemical imbalance portion created from the traumatic stress (though not required). Ultimately, it helps us to understand that things will not get better, in fact, they will more than likely get worse, without proper treatment for traumatic stress.
COVID has been an ongoing traumatic experience. We have all been affected in some way, whether it be directly or indirectly. Some have been affected more than others, and it is very possible that some may be experiencing some of the symptoms mentioned in today’s post. If you feel as though you can relate to any of this information, I highly recommend you consider therapy of some sort. Though CBT, DBT, and EMDR are phenomenal in treating traumatic stress, individual therapy is a great first step!
Our next post will be our final post for the COVID series, and it will be focusing on communication skills to best discuss topics that we may not always agree with or understand.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out!
