My Brain Talk

This is a short version of my “brain talk” that is part of most presentations I give on trauma.

The brain is an amazing organ. Every time I get ready to present about what happens within the brain during a trauma event I am in awe of how the brain really works to try and protect us from harm. However, when exposed to chronic trauma the brain eventually goes into overdrive and ends up wearing down both the brain mechanisms that are meant to protect and the physical body.

Imagine that you are driving through a residential neighborhood on a beautiful spring day. Suddenly, you see a soccer ball bounce into the middle of the street just a few car lengths ahead of you. What is the first thing that you do? I hope that you answered “I slam on the brake!”

Did you think about slamming on the brake? Did you consciously think to yourself “Hmmm, there is a ball. There may be a child somewhere behind it. I should put on the brake. Yes, I will put on the brake.” NO – you probably just slammed on the brake and thought about it afterward. That was your amygdale engaging.

The amygdale (the doing center of the brain) is a small kidney shaped piece inside of your brain that becomes flooded with cortisol and norepinephrine during times of extreme stress. The message is sent down the brain stem and spinal cord to whichever part of the body needs to act and completely bypasses the thinking part of the brain (the frontal cortex or forebrain). In lesser amounts cortisol improves cognition and attention and stimulates the front cortex (the part of the brain behind your forehead and above your eyes). However, in large amounts, the cortisol causes the frontal cortex to shut down and the amygdale does all the work. Once the danger is over (someone has held back the children and removed the ball from the street) the frontal cortex and the amygdale can go back to a normal state.

EMTs, military personnel, and other people talk about times when they didn’t think about how to respond but just went into automatic mode during times of danger and extreme stress. This is what happens to persons who are experiencing trauma in their lives and when the danger is chronic. The frontal cortex basically stops and says “I am not even going to stop and think about things any more because this person needs to be on constant alert and ready to act.”

This explains why survivors of trauma appear to always be on guard, hyper-vigilant, ready to fight or flee, and appear to be constantly afraid. This also is the reason why some people are not able to engage in a relationship with a provider. The person’s brain has gone into a default mode of constantly being prepared for danger. The survivor has probably had few experiences of being engaged in safe relationships and may not have grown up in an environment that leads to the ability to make choices other than those needed for survival. In fact, perpetrators were probably caretakers and had said that they were only doing what was good for the person or that they were just trying to help.

Another important point to know is that if the survivor grew up in an unsafe or hostile atmosphere he/she did not have the opportunity develop normally. Most or all of development was focused on maintaining safety and survival in the environment in which he/she grew up. Some of the behaviors we may observe may seem strange or counter-productive in a safe environment. However, in their environment, these behaviors were skills to maintain safety.

Here are two examples:

In the book, The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway, the author describes how during the siege of Sarajevo in 1992, people in the city of Sarajevo had to change how they traveled about the city. There were snipers in the mountains around the city who were shooting at people as they crossed streets on their way to get water or bread. People would congregate on street corners to decide whether or not it was safe to cross. They would cross in large groups or one by one. They would often run in a zig-zag pattern in order to be a harder target to hit. If someone who grew up or lived in a war zone such as this for a long period of time, even when they moved to a safe place, they may continue to cross the street in the same manner. For them it is an ingrained survival skill. For observers it may seem strange or a means of attracting attention.

Another story is of a personal nature. When I was in sixth grade I was bullied by a boy in my class who was two years older than the rest of us. He always waited until the math teacher came into the class as he appeared to sense that she was timid and would not stop him. He would get out of his desk and roam around the room during the math hour. At some point, sometimes once a week and sometimes not for a week or so, he would come up behind me and drive the point of his elbow into the middle of my back. I eventually was able to talk to a school counselor and it stopped. The repercussions did not end there. When I went into seventh grade I was placed in a remedial math class.

Because I had been focused on the boy and his whereabouts and was in fear of his attack, I had not learned sixth grade math. Fortunately, because I was in a nurturing environment, had my feelings regarding the bullying validated, and the abuse had stopped I was eventually able to move quickly back up to a higher level math class within the first semester of seventh grade.

The other part of the story is what I know about the boy. He came from a family of about eight children and his parents were alcoholics and known to be violent. Since he was two years older than the rest of us it is evident that he had been held back and had difficulties learning. This was more than likely because he was focused on survival at home and not on learning at school. He did not graduate from high school. I can only speculate on what the rest of his life has been like.

This story took place forty years ago. These days he probably would have been diagnosed with some sort of conduct disorder and possibly attention deficit disorder. Underneath it all, though, was the ongoing trauma in his life and that he was probably in a default mode of survival which made it difficult for him to learn anything else. This is why we may know people who have street smarts, can read faces and emotions, and have difficulties in new environments because they are looking for danger and how to manage (usually considered “manipulation”) the systems in which they are involved.

I hope this helps explain what is happening in the brain of persons who have had ongoing trauma. In future posts, I will write about how attachment and nurturing can have an impact on children who have experienced trauma and also how culture can affect a person’s response to traumatic events.