Trauma And The Brain

재택 예방 비디오 교육 시리즈

YWCA Spokane 직원은 친밀한 파트너 가정 폭력과 관련된 문제를 둘러싼 지역 사회 교육 및 인식을 높이는 데 초점을 맞춘 독특한 온라인 참여 기회를 만들기 위해 함께 모였습니다. 11부작 비디오 시리즈는 다양한 배경이나 현재 지식 기반을 갖춘 개인을 위한 흥미롭고 교육적인 콘텐츠를 제공합니다. 비디오와 블로그 게시물은 시청자에게 YWCA 스포케인 지지자들을 개인적으로 알 수 있는 기회도 제공합니다. 각 기여자는 자신의 개성을 글쓰기 및 프레젠테이션 스타일에 적용합니다. 시리즈 내의 각 주제에는 비디오를 포함하여 이와 같은 자체 블로그 게시물이 있습니다. 시리즈의 다른 모든 주제는 아래에 링크되어 있습니다. 이 비디오를 시청하고 블로그 게시물을 읽으면서 더 많은 지식을 얻고, 노출되지 않았을 수 있는 주제를 탐색하고, 자신과 주변 사람들이 더 건강하고 행복한 관계를 맺을 수 있도록 힘을 실어주기를 바랍니다. 시간을 내어 이러한 중요한 문제에 대한 교육, 인식 및 이해를 심화시켜 주셔서 감사합니다. 

트라우마와 뇌

It’s really common to think of the brain and the body as separate. In reality though, they are intrinsically and irrevocably linked. All of us are covered with nerve cells, everywhere, inside and outside. We have nerve cells on the tips of our fingers, along our skin, inside our intestines, in the connections between our muscle and tissue groups, in more places than I can name honestly. All of these cells function, in some way, to share information with the brain. The brain, in turn, then mediates all this information, decides how we feel, in our body through our somatic experience, and in our affective state, through our emotions. 

It’s easy for most of us to understand how physical experiences are connected to mental experiences, we’re trained to think this way. For example, with a very basic understanding of the nervous system, we can conceptualize how stubbing one’s toe sends pain signals to the brain. In fact, this is common sense to many of us. However, we’re not necessarily taught to understand or think about how mental experiences are connected to physical experiences. 

I could talk at length about the connections between the mind, the body, and the brain, there’s a lot of material to cover there! Today, I’m going to focus on understanding trauma responses in the context of the relationships between the brain and body. I hope you’ll find this helpful, as I am, in understanding how I, myself, and those around me respond to stress and trauma, and in promoting holistic healing practices. 

Outside of the nervous system, there’s one other major bodily system that it’s helpful to have a basic understanding of for this conversation, the endocrine system! The endocrine system is also a major messaging system throughout the body, which communicates in the language of hormones. The endocrine system interacts with the nervous system in many ways, including through the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal access, or the HPA access. When we encounter situations that are challenging, threatening, or uncontrollable, such as traumatic situations, a cascade of events is activated within the HPA axis, which we recognize as the stress response. What happens when you’re upset? Your heart may race, your palms may sweat, you may want to run away, or maybe you find yourself frozen in place. Perhaps you’ve heard these reactions referred to as the fight or flight response, or, more accurately, the fight-flight-or freeze response. These stress reactions which we recognize as within the fight-flight-or freeze response system developed to help us handle difficult situations in our environment. During periods of prolonged stress, repeated traumas, or repeated experiencing of past trauma, (which can happen in people who experience PTSD), the stress response system loses its adaptive advantage. Our body is continuously readying us to conquer a challenge which we may not actually have the capability or resources needed to overcome, and we can be given no time to rest, on an emotional or physiological level. We know that prolonged stress response can cause real damage to the body. If not properly treated, this can manifest in both mental and physical health disorders, including depression, PTSD, immune disorders, chronic fatigue, and metabolic disorders. 

Let’s revisit our friend, the brain. I heard an analogy once that compared the brain to Russian nesting dolls. I love this because it illustrates in a concrete way how the outer parts of the brain are generally the most complex, detailed, and newest sections of the brain while the inner parts of the brain are generally the older, more generic, and simpler parts of the brain. The brain can be divided into three basic regions, the reptilian brain, the limbic system, and the neocortex. The reptilian brain is the innermost part of our brain and controls our basic functions. In short, its job is to keep us alive. The limbic system exists in the mid-level space of our brain, and can be thought of as a sort of emotional control center; it is responsible for our fear and pleasure responses. Our neocortex is the outermost part of our brain and is in charge of what we call executive function, meaning the use of logic, imagination, planning, and control. Our neocortex, in general, is primarily in charge or our conscious thoughts and behavior. When affected by stress, fear, or trauma, the neocortex becomes impaired though. This means that those affected by stress, fear, or trauma may be biologically unable to think rationally, focus attention, or inhibit impulses. During these times, a phenomenon referred to as amygdala hijacking can also occur, in which our amygdala, the center of fear within the limbic system, takes over the neocortex and promotes acting out of fear.

So far we’ve talked about the stress response system, the basic regions of the brain and their primary functions, and how trauma can impact processes throughout our brain and body. One thing that many people are curious about whether trauma impacts memory, and if so, how, so I wanted to touch on that as well. In short, yes, trauma can and does have an effect on memory, through multiple facets including formation, storage, and recall. Typically, memories are formed and stored in an organized way, follow a sequential pattern, are easy to recall when desired, and we generally have control over the recall of memories. However, trauma memories are characteristically different from typical memories, and this impacts how survivors process their trauma during and after its occurrence. Generally, trauma memories are not well organized and are not sequential in nature. Instead, they’re often fragmented and don’t necessarily follow a logical timeline. We also have less control over the recall of trauma memories. Instead of us choosing when to recall a memory, situational factors may trigger the recall of a trauma memory when the survivor does not want to recall the trauma. Imagine how frustrating and difficult this may be. Something challenging happened to you, and even if you normally have an exceptional memory, you may not be able to remember your trauma in the same way you typically can remember other events. Also, even though you may not want to, you could be forced to think about the trauma when you’re triggered by numerous situational factors including smells, similar environments, the texture of a chair, or the particular type of lighting in a room, among other things. 

Now, it’s not really important to me whether or not you remember all of the details of what we’ve discussed today. If you find the details interesting, I’d highly encourage you to learn more in the links provided on this post. What I really want you to take away though is, there are reasons why trauma survivors act the way they do. I like to think of humans as systems. When one part of the system is off, even just slightly, this can have a massively impactful cascading effect across the whole system’s functioning. Though you may not always understand where a behavior is coming from, I hope that this understanding of the meaning within all of us, within and across every aspect of our being, will encourage you to have compassion and empathy for trauma survivors.

Written content and video for this topic within the Prevention at Home series provided by YWCA Spokane staff member, Mia Morton.

집에서 예방 학습을 계속하세요!

다음 블로그 게시물을 방문하고 집에서의 예방 시리즈의 다른 비디오를 시청하여 자신과 주변 사람들에게 힘을 실어주는 여정에 대한 더 많은 주제를 살펴보세요.

1. YWCA 스포케인의 서비스
2. 친밀한 파트너 가정 폭력이란 무엇입니까?
3. 위험 신호와 관계 스펙트럼
4. 존중, 경계 및 동의
5. 청소년 가정폭력
6. 왜 그들은 머물거나 돌아가는가?
7. 트라우마와 뇌
8. 안전 계획
9. 자가 관리
10. 자기 규제
11. 친구를 돕는 방법

평생 교육을 위한 외부 리소스

YWCA Spokane 직원은 귀하의 교육을 향상시키기 위해 다음 외부 링크를 수집했습니다.

• 평등 대 공평
• 동의 차
• 공감 대 동정 - 브레네 브라운
• 자기 관리 TedTalks
• 자녀와 대화하기: 동의와 건강한 관계 
• 여성폭력, 그것은 남성의 문제 - 잭슨 카츠
• 우리는 라이온스 스킵 말리(Lions-Skip Marley)입니다

Resources specifically related to trauma and the brain

• The HPA Axis
• Stress Effects on the Body
• Understanding the Stress Response 
• The Biology of Being Frazzled 
• Amygdala Hijack: When Emotion Takes Over
• How Trauma can Impact Four Types of Memory

YWCA 스포캔이 당신을 위해 여기 있습니다

귀하 또는 귀하가 아는 사람이 친밀한 파트너의 가정 폭력으로 인해 영향을 받은 경우, 전화를 통해 24시간 헬프라인 서비스를 통해 항상 비밀 옹호자의 도움을 받을 수 있다는 점을 알아 두십시오. 509-326-2255, 이메일을 보내다 help@ywcaspokane.org, 또는 문자 메시지 509-220-3725. 

코로나19 팬데믹 기간 동안 YWCA Spokane을 통해 추가 서비스를 이용하는 방법에 대해 자세히 알아보려면 다음을 방문하세요. ywcaspokane.org/services.