How does the brain respond to trauma?

Traumatic events experienced in childhood become imprinted on the limbic brain where survival, avoidance of pain, and pleasure seeking mechanisms reside. The emotions and physical sensations experienced with these events are stored in the subconscious mind.

Stimulus in the form of sights, sounds, sensations, and even smells can reactivate the emotions and body memories from these past events, activating the sympathetic nervous system (responsible for the fight, flight, or freeze response). These triggers may be benign, but if they remind the survivor of past traumas, survival responses are activated without conscious involvement from the rational and self-regulating part of the brain, known as the pre-frontal cortex. You may suddenly become flooded with panic without even knowing why, because survival mechanisms have been triggered.

Without adequate tools to manage this survival response, you can quickly become overwhelmed as the survival brain overrides the conscious, rational brain. Old survival responses may kick in, prompting irrational and unhealthy behaviors in an attempt to get relief. In childhood we did whatever it took to get out of pain and those responses seemed perfectly logical to us. As adults, we must recognize wherein these survival responses are dysfunctional and employ techniques to manage the mental/emotional overwhelm of the “trauma voice”.

Here’s an example of what that looks like in a scenario with our fictional character, Emma:

Emma has taken the bus to meet a friend for a concert in the park. As she takes her seat, a man brushes past her, smelling of sweat and alcohol. Suddenly, Emma is no longer on the bus. She’s been transported back 20 years and is now the child who can’t get away. Panic rises up and she jumps out of her seat, begging the driver to let her off the bus. Emma shakily dials her friend and tells her she is not coming. Then she boards another bus, goes home, and eats an entire bag of chocolates because the only thing that soothes or calms her is sugar.

But what if Emma had been working on recognizing the “trauma voice”? What if she had learned to be aware of her thoughts and their origin, having developed a mindful practice of bringing herself back to the present moment? In response to the sensation and smells, Emma would “hear” the voice of past trauma, but she would be able to respond rationally, knowing where the survival response was originating.

It is absolutely possible to choose to focus on empowering thoughts and feelings, while at the same time co-existing with the memories of past trauma and the feelings that they elicit. This is one of the primary goals of healing. A regular practice of Mindfulness & Meditation is known to be beneficial for developing this ability.

From the experts:

Learn more at the Younique Foundation: http://youniquefoundation.org/trauma-and-the-brain/