Trauma Brain
The brain’s primary function.
When thinking about the brain, the first thing that comes to mind is its incredible complexity and the many things it can do. One of its most important jobs is to keep us safe. To make sure we're safe, the brain sorts things we do and memories into two groups: things that are good for us and things that might be bad. The brain works hard to avoid things that could cause trouble.
When something really bad happens, the brain becomes super active. It remembers the bad thing and tries to protect us from it happening again. It's like having a guard watching out for danger. This can keep happening even after the bad thing is over.
This strong focus on bad memories can actually change how the brain works over time.
Neuroscience-ology
A smart scientist named Dr. Paul MacLean had an idea about the brain. He said it has three parts, each with its own job:
The "reptilian brain" takes care of basic things like our heart beating and feeling hungry.
The "mammalian brain" helps us feel emotions like happiness and fear, and also deals with how we connect with others.
The "neomammalian brain" handles thinking, remembering, and solving problems.
When something really scary happens, our brain goes into a "stay safe" mode. It gets our body ready to fight, run away, or freeze. After the danger is gone, things go back to normal with the help of another part of the brain.
But sometimes, when we've been through a lot of scary things (aka traumatic events), the brain gets stuck in this "stay safe" mode. This can make it tough for us to feel okay.
The differences in trauma experiences.
Virtually everyone is likely to encounter trauma, varying in scale from what’s commonly referred to as “big T trauma” to subtler “little T trauma”. It’s important to recognize that the impact of trauma isn’t solely determined by its size.
Sometimes one big event can cause problems, and other times it's many small bad things adding up over time. This can make us feel upset and worried even after the bad things are over. This might sound like something you've heard of called PTSD.
The next part of this series will go further into how stress from traumatic experiences makes physical changes in the brain, especially in the different parts of it. It will explain how these changes happen because and how they show up in the things we do and how we interact with others every day.