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Amygdala

The amygdala detects threats and triggers feelings of fear. When affected by PTSD, the amygdala becomes hyperactive and causes those with trauma to feel heightened fear in response to stressors related to their traumatic experience. The hippocampus stores and retrieves memories but in those with PTSD, it may be smaller which can affect their ability to recall memories and cause extremely vivid memories of the trauma to constantly resurface. The prefrontal cortex normally regulates emotions but after trauma has a harder time doing so, resulting in difficulty controlling fear and other emotions. Together these areas of the brain can cause trauma survivors to feel constantly fearful when triggered by reminders of their past experience.

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Danica Saron
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31 views

Amygdala

The amygdala detects threats and triggers feelings of fear. When affected by PTSD, the amygdala becomes hyperactive and causes those with trauma to feel heightened fear in response to stressors related to their traumatic experience. The hippocampus stores and retrieves memories but in those with PTSD, it may be smaller which can affect their ability to recall memories and cause extremely vivid memories of the trauma to constantly resurface. The prefrontal cortex normally regulates emotions but after trauma has a harder time doing so, resulting in difficulty controlling fear and other emotions. Together these areas of the brain can cause trauma survivors to feel constantly fearful when triggered by reminders of their past experience.

Uploaded by

Danica Saron
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Amygdala

The amygdala is a section of nervous tissue in the brain that is responsible for emotions, survival
instincts, and memory.

A major role of the amygdala is to detect fear. It recognizes and gathers information around us to
determine threats. By using our senses, such as sight and sound, the amygdala will respond with the
feeling of fear if it perceives a threat. This all happens unconsciously, deep in our brains.

When affected by PTSD, the amygdala becomes hyperactive.

Those who suffer from emotional trauma on the brain will often exhibit more fear of traumatic stressors
than others. Often, stimuli can trigger overactivity in the amygdala if somehow connected to the
traumatic event a person suffered from.

How trauma affects the brain might lead to chronic stress, heightened fear, and increased irritation. This
might also make it harder for those suffering to calm down or even sleep.

Emotional Trauma and The Hippocampus

The hippocampus is part of the limbic system in the brain. It is mostly responsible for storing and
retrieving memories, while also differentiating between past and present experiences.

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.

Mainly how trauma affects the brain, the hippocampus will affect the ability to recall some memories for
trauma survivors.

Other memories may be extremely vivid and constantly on the mind of survivors. Environments that
remind the survivor of their trauma in even small ways can cause fear, stress, and panic.

This is because the victim cannot differentiate their past trauma and the present situation. The fight-or-
flight response is then activated due to the brain’s perception of a threat.
The Prefrontal Cortex

The ventromedial prefrontal cortex is a part of the brain that regulates emotions. This emotion-
regulating center is often affected after trauma and becomes vulnerable to other parts of the brain.

Normally, the amygdala will sense a negative emotion, such as fear, and the prefrontal cortex will
rationally react to this emotion. After trauma though, this rationality might be overridden and your
prefrontal cortex will have a hard time regulating fear and other emotions.

So, these three parts of the brain- the amygdala, the hippocampus, and the prefrontal cortex- are the
most-affected areas of the brain from trauma.

They can make a trauma survivor constantly fearful, especially when triggered by events and situations
that remind them of their past trauma.

Overcoming emotional trauma is a long process, but it is possible. If you are suffering from after-effects
of emotional trauma or PTSD, know that recovering from your trauma is possible.

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