Trauma, the Brain and the Body by Sonja Josselyn
Section 1: What Is Trauma?
Trauma is defined as a deeply distressing or disturbing experience. A particular event or series of events may be particularly traumatizing to one individual and another individual in the same circumstances may not experience as much distress and may recover much more quickly. So, trauma is highly subjective to an individual, i.e. individuals respond to trauma differently.
The mental health diagnosing manual, called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, when describing Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) states experiencing trauma can include directly experiencing the event, witnessing the event, hearing about the event from a close family member or friend, or experiencing repeated or extreme exposure to details of a traumatic event or events.
Trauma can also include events that occurred before a child was verbal and/or cannot necessarily be recalled by the individual later in life. The memory of those events however is stored in their brain and body.
Trauma can include abuse, neglect and lack of attachment to a primary caregiver including at ages/times that the individual cannot consciously remember.
Section 2: What does trauma do to the brain and body?
Memories are encoded into the brain into neural networks. Neural networks include both a memory of the experience (like a video) and a body memory (what the body felt during the experience). Disturbing events are encoded with higher emotions and body sensations.
Highly emotional events (traumas) are first encoded by the emotional brain (Amygdala and limbic system) with a fight, flight, freeze, numb, dissociate or collapse response. During this initial response, the adaptive or logical brain is locked out – is not functional. This is a protective function of the brain and the individual.
For non-traumatic events, the brain is adaptive and logically thinks through experiences, learns from them, keeps what is helpful, discards what is not needed, and uses the learning to process future events. This is called adaptive information processing (AIP).
Emotionally charged neural networks (trauma experiences) may become isolated in the brain and unable to be processed by the logical/executive processing brain through the AIP process. The emotions and body sensations of the experience become trapped or frozen in the emotional center of the brain (amygdala), and the emotions/body sensations of the trapped experience/trauma can be triggered in the present. The brain is, in its own way, telling the individual that there are unprocessed experiences that need to be processed.
These trapped/frozen memories or isolated neural networks are also encoded with a core belief such as “I’m worthless” or “I’m not safe”. When present experiences (emotions, environment,
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sounds, words) trigger the trapped memory, it activates the past emotions and bodily sensations, and influences thoughts toward the core belief. The individual may experience a flashback and/or may experience the same emotions and bodily sensations as when the trauma occurred.
Not only does the brain experience trauma, but the brain communicates the experience to the body triggering responses within the body. This brain-body connection occurs through the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is connected to many crucial parts of the body including the facial muscles, voice box, palate, esophagus, heart, lungs, stomach, pancreas, liver, and colon. Positive emotions send messages through the vagus nerve to trigger positive facial expressions and calmness to other parts of the system such as the stomach, heart, and lungs.
Negative emotions such as a freeze response can shut down parts of the system such as the digestive system, and other negative emotions can over-stimulate certain parts of the body. This brain-body system is the source of somatic responses, or emotional responses causing diagnosable medical issues in the body. Examples of these include stress that causes ulcers or colitis. Trauma triggers a response from the vagus nerve that is meant to protect the body. But when the trauma/negative emotions/thoughts remain in the brain-body connection over time, the stress on the body eventually causes somatic conditions. See section 4 below for illnesses that may result from unprocessed trauma.
Section 3: What are the possible symptoms of trauma?
Startle easily because their body is in a hyperarousal state.
Hypervigilant – always fearful of something negative happening around them. May not like crowds or strangers. May not like closed in spaces. May sit facing the door at all times and may always scope out a room to see where they can exit.
Excitable about events that arouse adrenalin such as fighting, aggression, illegal activities, violence, or abuse because their body is addicted to being hyper-aroused. Individuals state that it makes them feel “alive” or “energized” and everything else feels numb. They prefer this energized state to the alternative of being dead to the world or shutting down.
Insomnia – may find it hard to sleep because their body and mind cannot calm down
Nightmares and flashbacks – may have nightmares of the event or related events. May dissociate during the day and re-experience the trauma both in mind and body. May go for months or years with very little sleep. May sleep during the day in order to avoid nightmares. May have to take medication in order to sleep.
Distrustful – may find it difficult to trust others, even those closest to them.
Difficulty focusing on tasks and easily distracted. May have diagnosis of ADD or ADHD. Difficulty keeping a schedule or calendar. Cannot remember things and is very forgetful.
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Difficulty being organized. Things/belongings tend to be messy and individual may lose things like keys or important documents often.
High anxiety – tend to have high anxiety because of hyperarousal state. Tend to not like change in any form.
Anger – tend to have explosive anger when anxiety/fear/discomfort is triggered. May be aggressive and violent during outbursts of anger and may not remember what happened while they were violent. Individuals describe this phenomenon as “blacking out”.
Irritability – tend to be irritable most of the time with little to no reason.
Negative emotions dominate – tend to experience fear, anger, guilt, sadness, shame and confusion much more often than positive emotions.
Diminished interest in positive activities such as play or pleasure. Hypervigilance makes them unable to enjoy ordinary pleasures. Even food may lose some of its pleasure. For some individuals, it makes them too numb to absorb new experiences.
Memory deficits - may not remember events that happened. Cannot associate positive feelings or body experiences with memories.
Intimacy deficits – may not be able to be intimate sexually since intimacy requires a sense of safety.
Sensory deficits – may not be able to sense certain areas of their body. May not be able to identify objects with their eyes closed. May dislike physical touch. Brain – body connection is compromised.
Executive function deficits – may not have a sense of direction or purpose. May have difficulty making decisions and/or acting on their decisions. Relationship with inner reality is impaired.
Dissociative tendencies – may shut off from the external world and dissociate at times.
Out of touch with emotions – may not be able to describe their own emotions even while they are exhibiting those emotions. May not be able to recognize “gut feelings” and may hide from their own emotions.
Section 4: What are secondary effects or body symptoms that may occur over time?
Migraine headaches
Asthma
Back/neck pain
Fibromyalgia
Digestive issues
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Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Chronic fatigue
Alexithymia (lack of emotional awareness, social attachment, interpersonal relating)
High rates of re-victimization (experiencing further trauma)
Difficulty feeling pleasure
Depersonalization (feeling separated from your body – experiencing things at a distance)
Autoimmune diseases/illnesses
Section 5: What are effective treatments for trauma?
Reconnecting brain and body/calming techniques:
Deep breathing exercises
Yoga and meditation
Mindfulness/connecting and noticing your bodily sensations and noticing how
emotions/thoughts and body affect each other
Massage
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) treatment Relationships:
Participation in family and community groups including religious communities, recovery meetings, family gatherings, and meetings with close friends or therapists. Destroying shame and becoming transparent is an important part of this.
Regaining a sense of safety and self-efficacy:
Self-protection/self-defense training
Tai chi/Karate/Qigong
Restoring capacity for playfulness and creativity:
Dance (especially group dance)
Theatre
Art
Singing, chanting, playing music
Sources:
“The Body Keeps the Score” by Bessel Van Der Kolk“EMDR Training Course” written by Roy Kiessling which includes references to Van Der Kolk’s book “Traumatic Stress”
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