Dr. Joyce Carter on Trauma and the Brain

A traumatic event is a dangerous, frightening, or violent event that threatens one’s life, safety, or bodily integrity. This includes witnessing a traumatic event that threatens the life or physical security of a loved one.  For young children, their sense of safety depends on the perceived safety of their attachment figures (National Child Traumatic Stress Network).

Responses to Trauma

Hyperarousal responses include fight or flight; when you encounter a threat, you either resist, retaliate, or simply flee. Other trauma responses include freezing and fawning. These responses are done out of fear; freeze happens when your fear is so great you cannot take any action. Fawn is when you try to please your abuser in hopes that the abuse will stop or the abuser will not retaliate against someone you love (i.e., a family member). During states of hyperarousal, one may often display hypervigilance, anxiety, panic, or increased heart rate. These symptoms may arise later in the form of panic attacks (Perry, 2004).

What Happens to our Brain?

The prefrontal cortex reduces in volume and is less active. This area of the brain is our ration

al thinking brain which regulates our emotions and provides.

The hippocampus shrinks. This area of the brain oversees memory, helping us to differentiate time between the past and the present.

The amygdala, which is known as our survival brain, becomes hyperactive. An overly active amygdala sends the message that we are in danger and disrupts our capacity to think rationally (Lebow, 2021).

Effects of Trauma

The effects of early life trauma can lie dormant in the brain until later life. The impact of these hidden effects is that, by adolescence, eighty percent of abused children will be diagnosed with a major psychiatric disorder. Imaging studies of abuse survivors often show that brain areas controlling emotion and cognition are abnormal and underlie these psychiatric disorders and difficulties functioning in the world (Sullivan, 2012).

Some of the following mental health disorders have been shown to result from trauma (American Psychiatric Association, 2013):

• Dissociative Identity Disorder
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Mood Disorders
• Anxiety Disorders
• Substance/Alcohol Use Disorder
• Borderline Personality Disorder
• Reactive Attachment Disorder

Treatments for Trauma

There are various treatments for those who have experienced trauma, some of which have been found to help change particular areas of the brain and nervous system that causes hyperarousal states. Trauma Therapy, EMDR, and medication, if warranted, can all alleviate the effects of prior trauma.

Enhancing neuroplasticity, the ability of the brain to form and enhance synaptic connections, can be achieved through some of the following activities (Shaffer, 2016 & Lazar, 2016):

• 

  Intermittent fasting
• Traveling
• Aerobic exercise
• Meditation
• Learning a musical instrument
• Non-dominant hand exercises
• Reading fiction
• Expanding your vocabulary
• Creating artwork
• Dancing

The following activities can offset the effects of  hyperarousal:

• Grounding exercises using your senses, such as walking barefoot on the grass or sand
• Noticing five things you see, hear, feel on your body, smell, and taste
• Holding ice
• Sucking on a lemon
• Body scan relaxation exercises
• Meditation
• Yoga
• Breathing exercises

Author

Learn more about Dr. Joyce Carter.

References

Bair, S (2015). Intermittent Fasting: Try This at Home for Brain Health. https://law.stanford.edu/2015/01/09/lawandbiosciences-2015-01-09-intermittent-fasting-try-this-at-home-for-brain-health/

Inaugural Margaret McCain Lecture by Perry, B. D. (2004). Maltreatment and the Developing Child: How Early Childhood Experience Shapes Child and Culture

National Child Traumatic Stress Network. (n.d.). Trauma types. www.nctsn.org/what-is-child-trauma/trauma-types

Nguyen, T. (2016). 10 Proven Ways to Grow Your Brain: Neurogenesis and Neuroplasticity. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/10-proven-ways-to-grow-yo_b_10374730

Nurick, J. (2020) NYU Langone Medical Center / New York University School of Medicine. (2014). Sleep After Learning Strengthens Connections Between Brain Cells and Enhances Memory. ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140605141849.htm

Powers, R. (2010). Use It or Lose It: Dancing Makes You Smarter Longer. http://socialdance.stanford.edu/syllabi/smarter.htm

Shaffer J. (2016). Neuroplasticity and Clinical Practice: Building Brain Power for Health. Frontiers in Psychology, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01118

Sullivan R. M. (2012). The Neurobiology of Attachment to Nurturing and Abusive Caregivers. The Hastings law journal, 63(6), 1553–1570erve

Wikipedia contributors. (2022, July 27). Verve. In Wikipedia, The F3:18, October 14, 2022, Lebow, H. I. (2021). The Science Behind PTSD Symptoms: How Trauma Changes the Brain. Medically reviewed by Kendra Kubala, PsyD. https://psychcentral.com/ptsd/the-science-behind-ptsd-symptoms-how-trauma-changes-the-brain#next-steps