― Andrew Weil, Spontaneous Healing
Chapter 8: Trauma and PTSD Defined
If you care for your brain and treat it well, it can be your most powerful ally. Since your brain is a part of you, it will always look out for your well-being. Our brains are naturally wired to help with our survival. They alert us when threats are present and ramp up our amygdalas so that we can take the appropriate action. However, the same trigger that helps us survive also makes it difficult for our brains to heal from trauma. As a matter of fact, the systems in our brain that keep us safe are also the ones that stimulate trauma time and time again. Fortunately, if you know how to break this cycle, you overcome trauma and other conditions such as PTSD.
In such cases, neuroplasticity again comes into play. In the 1930s, a behavioral psychologist from Canada by the name of Donald Hebb suggested that learning connects the neurons in the brain in new ways. According to Hebb, our experiences can alter the neuronal structures of our brains. And as we've learned in the past chapters, this is basically what neuroplasticity is!
Although trauma and PTSD can alter our brains, neuroplasticity can help heal us. When you have new experiences, your brain can start changing once again. This fact is extremely important in terms of trauma and PTSD recovery. But before we delve into this further, let’s first look at the definitions of trauma and PTSD.
What Is Trauma?
The longer you live, the more inevitable trauma becomes. Trauma refers to a response to an event that's deeply disturbing or deeply distressing, and that overwhelms a person's coping ability. Such an event may cause a feeling of helplessness, which in turn weakens the person's sense of self, as well as their ability to fully feel their experiences or emotions.
Trauma doesn't discriminate, and you can suffer from it no matter where you live in the world. It's important for you to recover from trauma because the more you let it control your life, the worse it becomes. Some of the more common causes of trauma include betrayal, loss of control over one's life, pain, injury, loss and abuse. The longer the effects of trauma stay in your life, the more difficult it will be for you to recover from them. Fortunately, it is not impossible.
There are two broad classifications of trauma. First, there's trauma with a small "t," which occurs when your life or bodily safety isn't threatened. However, when you experience this kind of trauma, you will still experience the symptoms. Your normal functioning gets disrupted, but recovery is much easier. Sadly, when some people experience this kind of trauma, they simply disregard it. But ignoring the event and all its unobservable effects can be perilous. If you don't process your trauma, it will keep following you no matter where you go and how much you try to cope with other negative things that happen in your life.
Then there's trauma with a capital "T," which includes extraordinary experiences that bring about extreme helplessness and distress. This type of trauma can be caused by a single event such as a natural disaster, an act of terrorism or sexual assault. Or it can be caused by prolonged exposure to stressors, such as child abuse, violence, war or neglect. Obviously, this type of trauma is much more difficult to ignore and overcome. When you experience this more intense trauma, you must seek recovery right away.
What Is PTSD?
Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is a mental health condition that is caused by an extremely terrifying event. You can suffer from PTSD whether you experienced the event or simply witnessed it. Some of the more common symptoms of PTSD are having severe anxiety, nightmares and flashbacks. Most of the time, the person may also experience uncontrollable thoughts about the terrifying event that caused the condition.
Most of the time, those who experience severely traumatic events may find it hard to cope and adjust to their situations. But over time and with the proper treatment, they can get better. Neuroplasticity also has the potential to help in the recovery of this condition, but we will discuss this more later. On the other hand, if a person doesn't do anything about the condition, the symptoms might develop until they start interfering with the person's daily ability to function.
The symptoms of PTSD may begin within a month after experiencing the traumatic event. In some cases, though, the symptoms don't even manifest until months or years after the event that caused the conditions. More often than not, the symptoms caused by PTSD may start causing dramatic problems in professional or social situations, as well as in the relationships of those suffering from it. Left unchecked, the symptoms will start interfering with even the simplest of tasks. Generally, the symptoms of PTSD are grouped into the following categories:
● Intrusive memories
These include a recurrence of distressing and unwanted memories about the traumatic event; flashbacks; nightmares; and severe physical reactions or emotional distress over something that reminds you of the event.
● Avoidance
This includes trying to avoid talking or thinking about the event, and avoiding people, activities or places that remind you of the event.
● Negative changes in mood and thinking
These include having negative thoughts; feeling hopeless; memory problems; having difficulty maintaining close relationships; feeling detachment from friends and family; losing interest in activities you used to enjoy; and feeling numb emotionally.
● Changes in emotional and physical reactions
These include getting frightened or startled easily; always feeling guarded; engaging in self-destructive behaviors; having trouble concentrating or sleeping; getting easily irritated, angry or aggressive; and feeling an overwhelming sense of shame or guilt.
Over time, the intensity of these symptoms may vary. But they're generally more evident when you're feeling stressed, or when you're reminded of the traumatic event.
Chapter 9: How Are PTSD and Trauma Related to Neuroplasticity?
The stress response of the body is a crucial protective and adaptive mechanism for coping with threats. But when a person experiences traumatic or chronic stress, it can result in functional and structural alterations in the brain. When you are exposed to different kinds of traumatic experiences, this increases your chance of developing PTSD due to the incremental growth of a fear network in the brain.
There is evidence that supports how mindfulness can be an excellent form of treatment for people who suffer from PTSD. However, most of the literature doesn't really talk about the neurological changes that happen during the process of mindfulness. Research about the impact of mindfulness meditation on the brain in specific regions indicates changes in the function and structure of the brain that may account for why the symptoms of PTSD are reduced through it.
The deregulation of the areas of the brain that are associated with memory and emotional regulation are significant contributors to the symptoms of trauma and PTSD, along with over-stimulation of the amygdala, the brain's fear center. Mindfulness meditation can reverse these patterns by toning the amygdala activity down while increasing the activity of the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex.
As a matter of fact, there are brain scans that confirm the fact that mindfulness has a direct correlation with a decrease in the amygdala's gray matter and an increase in the hippocampus's gray matter. Studies on neuroimaging have also shown that mindfulness can help activate the prefrontal cortex.
These changes in the brain that occur through mindfulness show how neuroplasticity can actually occur given the proper circumstances. Mindfulness practices can change the structure and function of the brain, which means that they can help in the treatment of PTSD as well as trauma. This is why this kind of treatment is becoming quite popular for these conditions, and for other types of conditions that occur in the brain.
Specific Regions of the Brain Affected by PTSD
PTSD is a condition that affects specific regions of the brain. Techniques for neuro-imaging such as fMRI and MRI have given scientists the opportunity to examine the brains of people who suffer from PTSD. According to their examinations, the thre
e main areas that are most affected by the condition are the prefrontal cortex, the hippocampus, and the amygdala.
The amygdala is a part of the limbic system of the brain that helps you determine whether or not there is an imminent threat. In such a case, the amygdala sends out a signal that indicates danger, which in turn initiates your fight-or-flight response. Then, when the threat is gone, the same part of the brain sends another signal to indicate safety. When a person experiences extreme trauma, the amygdala ends up becoming hyper-alert, even to stimuli that don't pose a threat. So even if you're safe, this part of your brain will continue to activate your fight-or-flight response. When you suffer from PTSD, your brain remains on an activated loop, making you highly alert so you perceive threats no matter where you look.
In its hyperactive state, your amygdala constantly interacts with your hippocampus, the part of your brain responsible for memories. Brain scans have shown that those who suffer from PTSD have smaller hippocampuses, which is an indication of impaired memory in those who have experienced trauma. Normally, the hippocampus connects and organizes the different parts of memory. It's also responsible for finding the memory of a particular event at the proper place, context and time. But for those who have PTSD, their memories become fragmented because their hippocampuses have difficulty putting together the memory pieces coherently, differentiating the present or past, and integrating the memories they have from their experiences with factual knowledge and feelings. This is one of the most distressing effects of PTSD, and it manifests through intrusive flashbacks and memories. These memories and flashbacks trigger the amygdala, thereby causing it to stay in a hyperactive state.
Finally, the prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain involved in the regulation of emotions, fear responses, impulses and behaviors. For those who suffer from PTSD, the prefrontal cortex is significantly less active. Therefore, it's less able to send signals to the amygdala to communicate that there is no threat, and is it unable to override the functions of the hippocampus as it triggers flashbacks and memories.
Our brain responds to trauma by changing. There are some parts that get deregulated, while others become hyperactive. This throws off the fine-tuned orchestration of functions that work together to protect one from real danger. Fortunately, these same changes, or at least the ability to change, can also help those who suffer from PTSD overcome their condition.
Learned Helplessness
For most people, when they have bad experiences, they try to do whatever is needed to change their situations. However, those who suffer from trauma or PTSD may also experience learned helplessness. This occurs when people feel like they don't have any control over the things that happen in their lives. These people simply accept their “fate,” no matter how bad the situation gets. Since they believe that they have no control, they start behaving in a helpless way.
Learned helplessness was an accidental discovery by psychologists Martin Seligman and Steven Maier (Seligman & Maier, Failure to escape traumatic shock, 1967). They observed this behavior in canines that, through classical conditioning, expected an electric shock after they heard a specific tone. Through this experiment, they found that the canines stopped trying to improve their situation after being exposed to it for a significant amount of time.
Learned helplessness is also quite common in human beings, especially in those who suffer from trauma or PTSD. The longer people remain in this state of learned helplessness, the more difficult it is to take them out of this state. In addition to trauma and PTSD, learned helplessness is also associated with other psychological disorders such as loneliness, shyness, anxiety, depression and phobias.
Learned helplessness and PTSD
As mentioned, those who suffer from PTSD may also start experiencing learned helplessness, especially if the condition is left unchecked and untreated. When you experienced something horrific and it changes your brain, you may start feeling hopeless and helpless. When this happens, you start losing control of your life, and in the end you give up and just accept everything that happens to you.
If you suffer from PTSD and you believe that you're already starting to experience learned helplessness, you must learn how to address this problem. Although seeking professional help is the best option, there are some things you may do as well to help yourself:
● Awareness
Although it won't be easy, you must try to make yourself aware of everything you're feeling. This is the first step you must take if you want to proceed to the next one. As soon as you're aware of what's happening to you, it's easier for you to get out of the rut you're in and start helping yourself.
● Change
Now that you've made yourself aware of your tendency towards learned helplessness, it's time to make a change. For instance, if you realize that you're always having negative thoughts, make a conscious effort to think of positive things. Doing a reality check once in a while works wonders. After this, you can start making changes (no matter how small) to improve your life.
● Take control
As you try changing your thoughts and actions, you'll realize that you're slowly beginning to take control of your life. This is a crucial step to combat learned helplessness. But in order to do all these positive things, you may need the help of a strong support system to keep you focused on what you want to achieve and on the change you want to make.
The earlier you determine your tendency towards learned helplessness, the easier it will be for you to overcome it. Now that you know that such a condition exists, you can start reflecting on your own actions to make yourself aware of whether or not you're leaning towards learned helplessness.
Chapter 10: Conquering Trauma and PTSD Using Neuroplasticity
Knowing more about a certain condition helps you understand why it happens and what you can do to improve it. This is why we have defined both conditions and discussed their relationship to neuroplasticity in the previous chapters. Although it's recommended to seek professional help if you suffer from trauma and PTSD, applying strategies and exercises that promote neuroplasticity may help improve your recovery, or even make it faster. In this chapter, we will be talking about how you can conquer trauma and PTSD using neuroplasticity.
The most significant effects of these conditions occur in the brain. And since neuroplasticity is brain-related as well, you can see how it can help with these conditions. Being able to conquer conditions as serious as these won't be an easy task. But if you're able to do so, you will bring a new kind of hope to your life that you couldn't have imagined when you were feeling all of the worst symptoms and didn't know how to cope.
Overview
For those who suffer from PTSD, their brains have undergone a change because they either experienced or witnessed a severely traumatic event. We've discussed the three main parts of the brain that are most affected by the condition and explained the changes they go through.
But when it comes to the brain, what is done can always be undone. In this context, this means that even though your brain may have changed as a result of a traumatic event, you also have the power to change it back, or even make it better. This is the main benefit of learning all about neuroplasticity. Although human beings have always had the ability to change their brains through neuroplasticity, it's only in recent years that we are learning how to promote this change.
Recent developments in neuroplasticity provide evidence indicating that the brain is genetically designed and hardwired to heal by changing and rewiring itself after experiencing different kinds of trauma, including stroke, brain injury and others. Some research also provides an explicit explanation of how the brain changes. You can use this information to help you work together with your brain to support its development and growth after experiencing trauma.
Whether it's from PTSD or some other brain-related condition, recovery can be very challenging. Unfortunately, because of how difficult it is, a lot of people don't commit to their recovery. They just give up and accept that they
have to live with their conditions for the rest of their lives. For others, they get used to a certain "lifestyle" that comes with PTSD, where they're allowed not to work, not to handle responsibilities and not to help others. The people around them are so afraid of making their conditions worse that they end up coddling those who suffer from PTSD. For these people, they feel like they're able to live an easier life because of the condition.
But would you really want this life for yourself? Would you want to feel helpless all the time? Yes, healing is difficult. It can get really messy, and a lot of times you will feel like giving up. In some cases, life will become a whole lot worse before things get better. In other cases, you will feel like you're making progress, then something triggers you and you feel like you're right back where you started. All of these things may happen when you choose to overcome your condition. So why bother, right?
Well, if you stick with your decision to heal, your brain will thank you for it. Those who give up aren't able to overcome their conditions not because their brains are unwilling, but because they are. It may take a long time for you to recover, but it's not an impossible task. How and when you will completely overcome your condition depends on you. The more willing you are, the higher your chance of recovering fully.
If you suffer from PTSD, you do so because of your experiences. When you apply neuroplasticity to your life, you can start learning how to use strategic, focused experiences to recover from this condition. At the very least, when you provide your brain with positive, new experiences while you start your journey towards recovery, it will give you an economic, balanced and positive way to change your brain through retraining. As you have these new experiences, new connections are created in your brain. The more you keep having these experiences, the stronger and stronger they become.
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