I have always felt that it is very important for my clients to understand the way that traumatic events effect the brain. I firmly believe that part of healing is understanding, so I try and give my clients information about what is happening inside the brain that makes them feel the way that they feel. So I would like to give you this information too.
With regard to trauma, there are three areas of the brain that we look at: the prefrontal cortex; the cingulate; and the amygdala.
Your prefrontal cortex is the thinking center of the brain. It is located in the front part of the brain right behind your forehead. The prefrontal cortex is responsible for all executive functioning. It controls reasoning and rational thinking; problem solving and decision making; your personality and being able to distinguish right from wrong. In a brain that has not been traumatized, it operates fully activated at all times.
Next is the cingulate which is located directly behind the prefrontal cortex. It is responsible for affect regulation, which is the ability to control and manage uncomfortable emotions. It is responsible for empathy; impulse control and emotions. In a brain that had not been traumatized, it also operates on high activation.
The amygdala is a small almond shaped organ that is in the base of the brain. It is best known for being the organ that drives the body's "fight or flight" response. It's role is to assess, interpret and respond to environmental threats and challenges to see if danger is present. This is a very primal organ and evolved because early humans were exposed to the constant threat of being killed by wild animals or other tribes. In a brain not experiencing trauma, this organ is on low activation. Basically it is on stand by waiting to interpret dangerous situations.
But when a person is threatened or feels fear, the amygdala is activated on high and sends the stress hormones (adrenalin and cortisol) into the body to launch the fight or flight response. The body is flooded with these hormones so that you can fight off or flee from a predator. At the same time that the amygdala is going on high response and flooding the body - the thinking center and the emotional regulation center go down to low activation, almost shutting completely off.
The body is now working in survival mode with the fear center in charge and the thinking and emotional regulation centers not doing much of anything - because when you are trying to survive you are not trying to rationalize or keep your emotions in check.
After a person experiences a severe trauma (like witnessing a murder; rape; severe car accident, etc) or when the trauma is something ongoing such as child abuse, the brain will be much more easily triggered into a trauma response and will respond exactly as it did when the trauma first happened. The person can be triggered by a smell, taste, song, place, etc. that reminds the body that the trauma happened. It is important to note that you do not have to be acutely aware that you have been triggered by something. Your body just knows.
Sometimes, the trauma is so terrifying or ongoing for so long that the brain enters a state where it is constantly in a trauma response. Because of this, individuals will go through their life feeling symptoms that result from the trauma itself. Some of these symptoms are: hypervigilance, hyper-awarenss; intrusive thoughts; trouble with memory and concentration; mood swings; isolation and avoidance of things; anxiety; panic attacks; fear; anger; emotional numbing and detachment; difficulty with sleep and a variety of physical complaints.
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