OTROS GASTOS DE OPERACIÓN

“Why can’t I control my thinking?”

Much of the material written on the neurology of trauma is understandably technical and sometimes confusing. However, since trauma affects the way individuals think and process information, it is important that this subject be explained in a non-technical language so that it is available to everyone. Therefore, I will present this subject in uncomplicated terminology and concepts in order to help the reader understand how and why traumatic memories are encoded differently than memories of ordinary events.

The brain can be divided into three major sections. The rst is the Brain Stem which controls our basic human functions of breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, etc. Second is the Limbic System that develops later in life and controls our ght/ight and action/reaction behaviors. This is a more emotionally guided part of our brain. And third is the neocortex  which is the last part of the brain to fully mature. It controls our logic and reasoning.

Under normal circumstances, our brain takes in information, processes it though the emotions of the limbic system and sends it to the neocortex for analysis, logic a nd a reasonable response.

The process for this type of behavior is one of… ***

 ACTION REFLECTION RESPONSE ***

However, this process changes during a traumatic event. In trauma, the individual must act quickly and instinctively. In order to do this, the brain places more emphasis on the more primitive parts of the brain (brain stem & limbic system) so that the action will produce an immediate reaction without the laborious and potentially dangerous process of reection and a logical response.

 A good example of this is when soldiers are sitting around talking and suddenly a mortar shell hits close by and everyone jumps up and runs in different directions. Some dive for cover, others jump behind something and some simply just run. None of these soldiers made a conscious decision of what they would do. It was purely an instinctual response. Afterwards they may even criticize one another or joke or laugh about their responses, but all of them will say, “I don’t know why I reacted that way. I just did!” This sudden threat of death causes the brain to react according to its animal instinct rather than to think and respond logically.

The process for this type of behavior is one of … ***

 ACTION REACTION ***

This process of action and reaction occurs for the purpose of protecting us during a time of danger. However, if we live in repeated or prolonged experiences of danger, we can reinforce this thought pattern. The more we use this pattern the more our brain will default to this pattern even when we are no longer in danger. In other words, the more this neurological network is activated, the more this “temporary state” will develop as a “permanent trait.” What eventually happens is this neural network of action/reaction will be activated even by minor stresses and the individual begins to live life by using this traumatic neurological response. The trauma is no longer a passing state for this individual but has now become a pervasive reality in their lives. This has serious implications for people who live in situations of community or domestic violence, have experienced regular physical or sexual abuse or who witness or experience violent crimes or violent lifestyles.

 Another element of neurology is how the brain encodes and processes traumatic experiences differently than ordinary events. During ordinary events, the brain functions in the following manner.

Certain areas of the brain (Somato-sensory areas) receive millions of bites of data or information from outside every day. Once they receive this information they send it to another area of the brain (Association area) where memories and emotions of similar past experiences are connected to these new sensations. Now this information is sent to the third section of the brain (Gnostic area) where a story is made about the experience. When this story is complete the brain is satised and it continues to process more data. A simple example of this is when  you meet someone for the rst time. You shake hands and their handshake feels safe, they smile

at you and make comfortable eye contact. Your somato-sensory brain takes in the sensation of the handshake, smile and eye contact and sends it to the association area that attaches past memories of these types of encounters as being safe and pleasant and then the Gnostic area puts together a story that this new individual you just encountered is a nice person.

Traumatic experiences are processed very differently. The essential difference is that because traumatic experiences are taken in as an overwhelming and intrusive arousal of  your system, they are taken in more as fragments of an experience rather than as the whole experience. Instead of being processed immediately, they are stored in the somato-sensory area of the brain until they can be processed at a later date. Essentially, the brain does not process all the sensations of trauma because they are physically and/or psycho-emotionally overwhelming. It now has billions of bites of data stored in the somato-sensory area that need to be processed. Until these pieces of information in this area of the brain are associated with feelings, memories and emotions and then sent to the Gnostic area to be told as a stor y, they will remain as unprocessed and therefore unhealed memories, only to surface later for the purpose of being fully processed.

These stored and unprocessed sensations are precisely what cause ashbacks, disturbing memories and nightmares. Similar stimuli that closely match the traumatic event can often trigger these unintegrated memories. If you were recently in a car accident and there was a strong odor of leaking gas, you may not be aware of it during the accident. However, the next time you pull into a gas station and smell the gas, you could have a ashback to the accident and actually begin to tremble or become afraid even though you are simply pumping gas at a station. The odor of gas was being sent from the somato-sensory area to the association area  where feelings and emotions were being connected to it. You may then go home and tell your

spouse about the event, cry, feel their support and be able to heal this part of the traumatic memory.

One of the miracles of brain functioning is that as we pass through the various maturation stages such as adolescence, mid-life and our later wisdom years, our brain will automatically try to rid itself of any unresolved somato-sensory memories. It will naturally activate itself to send these stored memories to the association area to begin being processed as a story. This is why many people begin to remember childhood traumatic experience, particularly sexual abuse, during these natural developmental stages of life. The brain is attempting to rid itself of unnecessary baggage so it can prepare itself for the new stimuli that it will experience as it passes from one stage of development to the next.