What is happening inside?

Trauma, Memory and the Body

Traumatic memory is coded and stored in the brain differently than normal, everyday
memory….
*Auditory, visual, kinesthetic arousal
*Hippocampus
*Pituitary Gland , being the Master Gland communicates to the Adrenals to produce
Adrenalin
The surge of Adrenalin reaches the brain in a split second. Adrenalin is the switch that opens
the production of Cortisol (the sleeping giant)
Cortisol floods the brain, damages the Serotonin level.
*Amygdala ( the security guard) activates and interprets the information as dangerous. It
flashes in the brain – DANGER, DANGER, DANGER !!!
At the same time Epinephrine( which is incorporated in the blood) reaches the big muscles of
the body…thighs, legs, arms, gluts…then allows the individual for the stress response
FIGHT (anger )
FLEE (fright)
FREEZE (scared stiff)
*The heart is deprived of blood supply( because most of the blood pooled in the large muscles)
therefore it beats fast and strong asking the other body parts to give it more supply of blood
and oxygen.
*Going back to the AMYGDALA…conscious thought plans action, anticipates consequences,
monitors the outcomes of behaviors, inhibits inappropriate behavior through the
communication to the FRONTAL CORTEX.

*By this time the LIMBIC SYSTEM connects sensations and emotions together. An individual
with a healthy brain will take steps to assert control over the danger. When danger is coped
with the *HIPPOCAMPUS files the situation as CASE CLOSED.

IN OVERWHELMING SITUATIONS THE AMYGDALA REMAINS AROUSED…..ADRENAL GLANDS

ARE CONTINOUSLY STIMULATED PRODUCING MORE ADRENALIN. MORE ADRENALIN=MORE
CORTISOL. MORE CORTISOL=MORE BURNING OF SEROTONIN=CONTINOUS EXCITATION OF
THE HIPPOCAMPUS.

*Stimulation Overload happens

*The REASONING BRAIN falters:

-Information from a traumatic memory is sent in a dissociated and fragmentary form.

-Trauma victims may not recount event information in a “narrative form” because the
language area in the left side of the brain.
-The event is not assigned to a time and place by the hippocampus: the traumatic memory
feels like it is still happening.
-State dependent memories come back in incoherent fragments as flashbacks.
-Emotions and thoughts of the traumatic incident when triggered makes the victim re-
experience the pain right now.
-To avoid triggers, the victim resorts to a constant state of vigilance.
-To avoid triggers, the victim resorts to numbing activities.
-To avoid triggers, the victim makes himself inaccessible to danger.
-ABREACTIONS happen in full flashbacks .
-Body sensations occur out of context , sounds, fleeting images when the LIMBIC SYSTEM is
stimulated.

TRAUMATIC MEMORY IS CODED AND STORED IN THE BRAIN DIFFERENTLY FROM NORMAL
MEMORY. The AMYGDALA is constantly flashing, the HIPPOCAMPUS continuously shrinking,
the NEURONS progressively losing communication with each other leaving spaces in the brain
affecting thoughts, feelings, decision- making, daily living, relationships.