Emotional Trauma and The Hippocampus How trauma affects the brain, the hippocampus may be physically affected; studies have shown that in people suffering from PTSD, the volume of their hippocampus may be smaller than others.
Cerebral atrophy in response to traumatic brain injury is a well-documented phenomenon in both primary investigations and review articles.
Specifically, the effects of trauma on the brain seem to impact the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex the most.
Childhood trauma is associated with increases in amygdala volume, whereas traumatic stress in adulthood is associated with reductions in amygdala volume.
Trauma can cause your brain to remain in a state of hypervigilance, suppressing your memory and impulse control and trapping you in a constant state of strong emotional reactivity.
Brain areas implicated in the stress response include the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex. Traumatic stress can be associated with lasting changes in these brain areas.
A plethora of complications from traumatic brain injuries, ranging from minor cognitive delays to debilitating and life threatening symptoms such as seizures and coma, can follow the victim for years after the injury. You need to know that brain injury recovery time can take anywhere from a few weeks to ten years.
They have found that people who have severe, chronic cases of PTSD have smaller hippocampi5 . This indicates that experiencing ongoing stress as a result of severe and chronic PTSD may ultimately damage the hippocampus, making it smaller.
When people have symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, the amygdala becomes hyperactive while the medial prefrontal cortex becomes hypoactive.
You can do this by slowing down, taking deep breaths, and refocusing your thoughts. These steps allow your brain's frontal lobes to take over for the irrational amygdala. When this happens, you have control over your responses, and you won't be left feeling regret or embarrassment at your behavior.
Our biological systems are designed to change in response to whatever life throws at us. Research in neuroscience shows that if we witness or experience trauma, our brains can actually take on a different structure.
People most commonly get TBIs from a fall, firearm-related injury, motor vehicle crash, or an assault. Research shows that: Falls lead to nearly half of the TBI-related hospitalizations. Firearm-related suicide is the most common cause of TBI-related deaths in the United States.
Ever since people's responses to overwhelming experiences have been systematically explored, researchers have noted that a trauma is stored in somatic memory and expressed as changes in the biological stress response.
For individuals who continually experience traumatic events, or who relive traumatic memories from their childhood as adults, this means the brain can rewire itself in such a way that sometimes causes us to feel overly stressed, even when there's nothing overt to stress about.
Damage to the amygdala can cause a variety of symptoms, most often emotional and behavioral. Individuals may experience irritability, confusion, and a variety of strong emotions. Symptoms of amygdala damage can be complex and may require a combination of treatments.
Exercise; this stimulates neural pathway growth and as we age aerobic exercise, the stuff that increases our heart rate and makes us work up a sweat can help us maintain the size of our hippocampus – we avoid its shrinkage due to age.
Observational studies and preliminary clinical trials have raised the possibility that physical exercise, cognitive stimulation and treatment of general medical conditions can reverse age- related atrophy in the hippocampus, or even expand its size.
The hippocampus and amygdala were, on average, smaller in subjects with current PTSD (hippocampus: d = −0.17, p = . 00054; amygdala: d = −0.11, p = . 025).
There are degrees of trauma. It can be emotional, mental, physical or sexual. It can occur once, or repeatedly. However, it is possible to fully recover from any traumatic experience or event; it may take a long time, but in the end, living free from the symptoms of trauma is worth every step of the journey.
Your brain is equipped with an alarm system that normally helps ensure your survival. With PTSD, this system becomes overly sensitive and triggers easily. In turn, the parts of your brain responsible for thinking and memory stop functioning properly.
Recovering from a traumatic experience can take days, weeks or even months. Memory loss can come back suddenly, but the underlying traumatic cause must be addressed for authentic healing.
A concussion is generally referred to as a mild traumatic brain injury or mTBI.
Trouble with memory, concentration, attention, or thinking. Loss of consciousness lasting a few seconds to minutes. Sensitivity to light or sound. Nausea or vomiting.
A CT scan can quickly visualize fractures and uncover evidence of bleeding in the brain (hemorrhage), blood clots (hematomas), bruised brain tissue (contusions), and brain tissue swelling. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). An MRI uses powerful radio waves and magnets to create a detailed view of the brain.