Neurobiology of Trauma
By Vanessa Gonzalez
There are many complex reactions to a traumatic event. Trauma is a person's emotional response to a highly distressing event. Unlike typical sadness or upsetting events, traumatic events are unpredictable and typically involve a severe threat. However, it's important to note that a traumatic experience is how the event affects the specific individual.
Common traumatic events are:
• Sexual assault• Domestic violence• Emotional/psychological abuse• Physical violence• Vehicular accidents• Loss of a loved one• Witness a shooting • Witnessing a death• War• Spiritual or religious abuse • Child abuse or neglect• Natural disaster• Exposure to school violence• Serious accident or medical procedure • System-induced trauma
These are only some examples of traumatic events. Most importantly, if a person’s sense of safety is beyond their control, this can trigger extreme distress leading to traumatic responses.
Types of Trauma
Acute trauma: This type of trauma is intense stress immediately following a one-time traumatic event. Typically, the distress is short, within two weeks. For example, this may be a sexual assault or a vehicular accident.
Chronic trauma: This trauma can be developed after exposure to several harmful events repeated over a more extended period. Some examples are domestic violence, bullying, and neglect.
Complex trauma: is when a person is exposed to multiple traumatic events and an individual experiences constant monitoring of possible threats all around them.
Secondary Trauma: Also known as vicarious trauma, is developed after exposure to another person's traumatic experience and suffering. This can happen to many professionals working with victims. In addition, this can happen to first responders, law enforcement, physicians, and therapists.
Neurobiology of Trauma
In response to trauma, the brain will do whatever it needs to feel like it is protecting the individual. PTSD symptoms are categorized into re-experiencing, avoidance, and hyperarousal. In short-term stressful situations, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis will release specific hormones to create a stress response. Some examples are increased heart rate, breathing, and blood flow.
These physiological responses tell our body that we are in danger, or fight or flight, to respond to the threat. However, if there is a long-term threat, the HPA axis will continue to release high levels of these stress response hormones, like cortisol, which will compromise the body's immune system. Even when a person is no longer in a dangerous environment, the brain in charge of inhibiting the stress hormones, the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, cannot regulate the body back to homeostasis. When cortisol is continuously released, it attacks the hippocampus and gets smaller, unable to inhibit cortisol response. Thus, when an individual's trauma is triggered, the brain cannot process new information and is stored in implicit memory. This causes the reexperiencing to occur as the memory is never truly processed. Instead, when a person is triggered, the experienced is pulled from implicit memory, and the brain cannot process and inhibit the response.
Treatments
If left untreated, trauma can affect the overall daily functioning and well-being of the individual. There are multiple treatment options that is tailored to the individual. Some of these treatments include:
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)• Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) • Exposure Therapy • Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR) • Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) • Sand Tray Therapy • Medication
If stress and other issues are caused by a traumatic experience, tell your doctor or a mental health professional. Help is out there. Take a trusted family member or friend with you if possible. You deserve to live a life where you feel safe and cared for.
