Childhood abuse and neglect can significantly impact the brain’s development, leading to a decrease in the corpus callosum and hippocampus, which are crucial for learning and memory. These negative experiences disrupt the rapid growth of children’s brains, causing changes in their brain later on. Research has shown that early abuse rewires pathways associated with emotions, empathy, and bodily understanding.
Neurophysiological research on child survivors has been ongoing for over 12 years, with neuroscientists like Dr. Martin Teicher of the University of California, Berkeley, highlighting the molecular impact of CA on the brain. Children who suffered threat-related trauma, such as violence or abuse, were more likely to enter puberty early and show signs of accelerated aging on a cellular level.
Child maltreatment, particularly neglect and emotional abuse, can cause long-term, critical impairment to brain development, affecting memory, self-control, and responses to stress. Emotional abuse and neglect are linked with structural and functional changes in the brain that can affect a child’s well-being for years. Childhood maltreatment significantly predicts reduced hippocampal volumes, even when the variance already explained by age, sex, and diagnosis is taken out.
Emotional abuse and neglect are a stressor that can lead to the development of behavior problems and affect brain structure and function. Research on children who suffered early emotional abuse or severe deprivation indicates that such maltreatment may permanently alter the brain’s ability to use. Understanding the molecular impact of CA on the brain is essential for the development of treatment and prevention measures.
📹 Childhood Trauma and the Brain | UK Trauma Council
A general introduction to what happens in the brain after children face traumatic experiences in childhood, like abuse and neglect.
What does trauma do to a child’s brain?
Traumatic experiences can alter children’s brains, activating instinctive responses and reducing areas for learning, particularly around language. This adaptation is particularly common in children under five, as it adapts for survival under the worst conditions. However, this adaptation comes at a significant cost to schooling, especially in standardized education systems. Traumatized 5-year-olds are three times more likely to struggle with attention and two times more likely to show aggression. This adaptation is considered an appropriate adaptation to their circumstances, but it comes at a significant cost to education.
What are three lasting effects of trauma on children’s brains?
Traumatic experiences in early childhood can disrupt attachment, cognitive delays, and impaired emotional regulation, leading to impairment later in life. The brain’s most plasticity in infancy and early childhood allows for the most opportunity for change. Prolonged trauma in early childhood can be devastating, but also presents a window of opportunity for interventions that can positively alter the brain.
Children and teens’ brain development continues in school-age years, with neural pathways pruned or eliminated to increase efficiency and coated to protect and strengthen them. This process allows children to master complex skills like impulse control, managing emotions, and sustaining attention. Trauma during this stage of development can have significant impacts on learning, social relationships, and school success. Therefore, it is crucial to address trauma in early childhood to ensure the brain’s development and resilience.
Can childhood trauma mess up your brain?
Childhood trauma can cause significant damage to the brain through the triggering of toxic stress. This type of stress, which can be strong, frequent, and prolonged, can rewire several parts of the brain, altering their activity and influence over emotions and the body. While some stress is healthy, excessive stress can have lasting effects on the brain that can persist into adulthood. Stress plays a significant role in a child’s development, with three types: positive stress, tolerable stress, and toxic stress.
Positive stress, which increases heart rate and stress hormones, is short-lived and triggered during minor stress experiences. However, with supportive adults, children can gradually learn to problem-solve and deal with adversity, leading to the development of a healthy stress response system.
How does an abusive childhood affect adulthood?
Childhood abuse can significantly impact adult relationships, leading to potential bullying, aggression, impulse control issues, and risky behaviors like substance use or sexualization. To receive help, it is crucial to recognize the impact of childhood abuse on oneself and seek help from a mental health professional or primary healthcare provider. It is essential to address the lingering effects of early childhood trauma and seek support from a healthcare provider to ensure the best possible support for the adult.
What are the six long term effects of abuse?
Child abuse and neglect are linked to various health issues, including behavioral issues, heart, lung, liver, obesity, diabetes, depression, anxiety disorders, increased suicide attempts, criminal behaviors, illicit drug use, alcohol abuse, risky sexual behavior, and unintended pregnancies. The long-term impact of these issues extends beyond individual victims, affecting healthcare, education, and criminal justice systems, as well as a community’s quality of life and economic prosperity.
Does being abused cause brain damage?
Domestic violence is now recognized as a leading cause of traumatic brain injury, with hints suggesting that this type of physical abuse produces a distinct pattern of damage in the brain. This type of abuse can leave a characteristic pattern of damage, potentially causing lasting damage as severe as that caused by sports and military blasts. NPR’s Jon Hamilton reports on this research, which includes graphic descriptions of physical violence.
How does abuse affect a child’s development?
Child abuse can lead to behavioral issues in childhood and young adulthood, including emotional outbursts, mood changes, sadness, withdrawal, aggressiveness, violence, hyperactivity, bed-wetting, and low self-esteem. Signs of abuse depend on the child’s age and type of abuse, and not all signs are indicative of abuse. If you suspect a child is being abused, report it to ensure they receive help. Symptoms of child abuse may include:
What happens to a childs brain when they are abused?
Prolonged exposure to traumatic experiences, such as child abuse and neglect, can result in the development of toxic stress, which can disrupt the normal functioning of the brain and affect children’s physical and cognitive development. Such consequences may manifest as a compromised immune system, difficulties in memory and learning, impaired mood regulation, and diminished information processing speed.
How does childhood abuse affect brain development?
Maltreatment significantly reduces the volume of the hippocampus, anterior cingulate, ventromedial, and dorsomedial cortices, and affects the development of key fiber tracts. This article argues that psychiatric disorders need to be subtyped based on maltreatment history. Studies have shown that adverse childhood experiences can lead to health problems, with evidence from four birth cohorts dating back to 1900. Balancing plasticity and stability across brain development is crucial in understanding the impact of maltreatment on brain development.
How does childhood trauma affect the brain in adulthood?
A study at the University of Arizona has found that childhood trauma or maltreatment can trigger changes in specific sub-regions of the amygdala and hippocampus, a key risk factor for developing mental health conditions like major depressive disorder in adulthood. These changes may lead to impaired brain function, potentially increasing the risk of developing mental health disorders in adulthood during stress.
The study aims to identify which sub-regions of the brain are permanently altered by childhood abuse, trauma, or mistreatment, allowing researchers to focus on mitigating or potentially reversing these changes.
What happens to a person after years of emotional abuse?
Emotional abuse can have long-term effects on mental and physical health, leading to conditions like depression and anxiety. Chronic stress can also cause digestive issues and body aches. Emotional abuse can also interfere with interpersonal relationships, making it difficult to trust and build healthy connections. Healing from emotional abuse is crucial for building healthy relationships in the future. Recovery from emotional abuse can involve a range of emotions, with no one-size-fits-all approach.
It is common for individuals to experience mood swings, from positive to anxious, and there is no right way to heal. It is essential to recognize and accept the valid emotions and feelings experienced during the healing process.
📹 How Trauma and PTSD Change the Brain
When trapped in a constant trauma response people with PTSD experience four types of difficult PTSD symptoms including: 1.
I have had CPTSD much of my life. Traumatic things kept happening to me before I had any chance to recover from the last one. I tried talk therapy many times, but didn’t get much out of it. THEN I read about TRAUMA THERAPY and EMDR. After over a year working at it, I can go long periods feeling normal and enjoying life. I pray none of you give up until you work with a trauma therapist and find your way out of the nightmare.
1) mygdala becomes more sensitive to threat response 2) hippocampus shrinks making it less effective to processing emotions and memories 3) pre frontal cortex shrinks makes it harder to think clearly in a fight or flight scenario 4) The nervous system stays in a sympathetic state possibly causing adrenal fatigue, resulting in auto immune diseases
I was traumatized and emotionally neglected as a child. As I didn’t understand this until I had therapy as an adult I was trapped inside myself for most of my life. Nothing I have experienced has convinced me that the world is safe and anyone trust worthy. The last two years have caused even more anxiety and distrust.
I served with the Marines in Vietnam and I’ve had PTSD for over fifty years. I tried different medications with limited success. The memories of combat are so strong they literally take over your mind and force you to relieve the traumatic event. I began Zen meditation in 2004 and I’ve finally attained control of my own mind. When the memories occur I simple change the website by following my breath. It’s so simple. To treat PTSD you have to learn to live in the moment.
I wish someone had explained this to me 36 years ago. It’s only now in my late 40’s that I am dealing with my early trauma, and knowing all of this would have been so helpful – to me and my family. Always being told I was “too emotional” and over-stressed, was never helpful, and I didn’t know that my brain had actually changed from what I went through…so it all makes sense. Thank you for getting this information out there. The way you presented it made it very easy to understand. 👍
I am fully healed. I fell onto concrete from 10 feet and landed on my face in a freak accident. I woke up paralyzed from the neck down. Noons was around. I was laying there and couldn’t move. I manifested getting up and finding help. It took 8 years to heal the TBI concussion, bleeding brain, spinal cord trauma, occipital neuralgia, thoracic outlet syndrome, PTSD, and other conditions all while being tortured by a hateful person. Banging pots and pans. Antagonizing, instigating arguments, fear mongering, false accusations. Denying my injuries exist even after 1000 medical records diagnosis. 10 surgeries including facial reconstruction 250 stitches 2 broken cheeks and my nose turned to dust. Crazy making to block my healing. Sabotaged every court case for any SS then stole the only insurance settlement kids and house with evil lawyer tactics. Leaving out all information that I was in the background energetically depleted fighting for my life while this person was steadily trying to have me imprisoned for being completely innocent. It’s sick and twisted, but I survived and am living my best life in peace and happiness. I am extremely lucky and grateful that the lessons are over, thank you🌸
Hi form Japan💛. You have no idea how much you are pushing and helping me to live heftier life. Both mentally and physically. I know that perusal articles is just part of the healing process, but you are making them in such an effective and focused way that they became a significant part of my PTSD healing proces after my childhood with narcissistic mother and sexually abusive father. Arigatou gozaimasu!
My sister witnessed my 3 1/2 year old brother choke on a carrot and die in 1967 when she was 11. She said that she remembers the day like it was yesterday, but she doesn’t have any memories of him before that day. It’s like the 3 1/2 years he was alive were completely wiped from her memory. She has no recollection of him during Birthdays, Hanukkah, or even just normal every day events. Back in 1967 therapy for traumatic events like that weren’t really a thing, especially when it came to kids.
I wet the bed every night for 5 years from nightmares then started pseudo seizures, and Major Depressive Disorder. I was in therapy for 20 years. It never goes away, you just get better at dealing with it. I still have difficulty going anywhere. I had a difficult childhood, then became a social worker in child protection and it all became jumbled in my head. I use mindfulness to prevent panic. I have no friends.
As a infant I had TB, moved to an infant hospice and early death. I somehow survived. Mother had cancer and father had ptsd from ww2. I missed normal infancy, adopted at three. Now in my 60’s I still suffer startle reflex, self loathing (only a little), guilt (my sibling grew up in an orphanage). I was repeatedly told by a few a school I was not worthy to be adopted etc. I was however, lucky to have good parents who did there best to help me through. The notion of change was their mantra, helping others not to go through what you went through. I have practised this as long as I can remember and this has been my therapy.
I have ptsd and I like this article and it’s content. My “style” of symptoms are mostly associated with the Freeze aspect of the Fight/Flight/Freeze response. We now include Freeze as a part of it, which was not the case when I was traumatised. After my trauma as a 16 year-old male I became detached, solitary, escapist, unfocussed, reckless, self-destructive, depressed, nihilistic. I self-medicated in order to counter those symptoms, so I was all those things plus an alcoholic drug-addicted, caffeine-addicted, self-sabotaging disappointment. EMDR saved me. I’m 48 and just starting to feel my old self again.
Thank you so much for this concise explanation! I have experienced many forms of trauma and in the past I would journal, meditate, do yoga and mindfulness and I always recovered. Therapists would tell me I was resilient. Over the past several years my PTSD has been repeatedly triggered but I did not journal, stopped meditating and stopped yoga because of physical injury and excessive stress and demands in my life. I experience nearly all of the symptoms you described and have felt hopelessly stuck. Your article brings so much hope and the promise of recovery with the methods I used in the past! Who knew that I was instinctively or intuitively doing things to heal!! Thank you again for showing me a way out of my struggle!
Trauma & PTSD are debilitating, especially if you cannot entirely remove yourself from the possibility of that trauma repeating. My daughters were attacked by burglars in our home, but a year prior my younger daughter and I were attacked as well. We lived in the ‘crime capital’ of the world – Johannesburg, South Africa – where the potential for being attacked is a real daily threat. Waiting at traffic lights in your car someone can walk up & smash windows to steel jewellery, cellphone & handbags. Any time arriving home & waiting for an automatic gate to open you can be attacked. Walking up your garden path to your door, walking to your car in a parking lot – literally everywhere all the time. So we were living with a constant type of fear and paranoia as to when the next attack would come. We moved country, but even now in London my daughters continue to display signs of PTSD, damaged processing of stressful situations, burnout and depression, even though they are 1000s times safer than in Johannesburg.
So helpful thank you. I encountered a really large and deadly snake here in South Africa, it stood up in the house less than 2 metres away from me. I know this was a message of danger that was much greater than the snake. The snake appeared to warn me and in that other greater danger was revealed. The snake essentially saved me from greater threat. Now that I have moved close to the mountains again, everything freaks me out. I am constantly expecting a snake in the house. The sounds of the crickets in the grass freak me out, anything that looks like a rope etc, I freak. Lastly I am a yoga teacher so it’s been tough to seek help around this as I carry weight of “you should be able to figure this out on your own”. This article helped hugely as I will write (like I have done here lol). Bless you
This is the BEST explanation of PTSD I’ve seen. I suffer from it, and it has crippled me to the point that I haven’t been able to work outside the home. My family doesn’t get it. Currently I’m in therapy and my therapist is amazing, and it’s a lot of work. The biggest hurdle is getting family and friends to understand why I am the way I am (why I cry, why I hate talking on the phone, why I isolate, why I hate loud sounds, why I am so forgetful…etc). You broke it down in bite size pieces and I plan to share this with those who don’t get it. Thank you for sharing your knowledge on this topic. Edit: Correcting typos.
Meditation and good will!! Get so settled into the peacefulness of shutting down the busy of the world, its noises ceaselessly running in and out of your mind, and drift into the calm. Give yourself some stiff love. Hug and remind yourself of how beautiful a being you are. It’s the one treatment we can all afford, long term.
Hi. The timing on this is incredible. I just lost the love of my life due to PTSD. We had been together for a year but she was always accusing me of saying and doing things that I didn’t. She had no center or sense of self and was always swinging between happy go lucky and depressed victimhood. Last Friday I tried to present her with scientific literature on how PTSD and depression both affect perceptions of negative memories because I could no longer continue apologizing for things I didn’t remember saying or doing. The next day she moved out, broke up with me, and has since excommunicated me from all social media, even though I made sure to handle the transition with respect, understanding and consideration. It’s hard not to see me sticking up for myself as the reason for her exodus from my life and this article has really helped me see now that her decision wasn’t malicious or personal, she just can’t help but be scared and defensive. Which sucks in its own way to know that our beautiful dynamic and relationship was ruined because of the evil that someone else enacted upon her years ago. It is truly sad.
Where have you been all my life!!!! I am an LMFT such as yourself and I have been doing EMDR work with my clients for 3 years now and I love to see the transformations .Your article is perfect to explain my peeps how trauma works and what it does!!! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your resources to this world. Oh my goodness, AWESOME!!!!!!!
Can’t thank you enough my dear darling I’m 71 in dealing with a lot of trauma I’m waiting to get some EMDR therapy but I’m so thrilled that in the meantime I can use the ones you have suggested and I’ve been a long time not okay and I’m looking forward to being okay again and you are the beginning of my road map so thank you I will never forget you for giving this information to us God bless you
This is such a good explanation. I hope doctors (general practicioners) watch your website. I have such a hard time explaining my anxiety to a dismissive response about needing medication like a diabetic. I also know people who have experienced something where they can’t function and don’t understand why and this is such a clear guide to explain it. So valuable, thank you!
Thank you for this explanation of what is physiologically happening in my body and why I can’t just think it or wish it away at the snap of a finger. I have fleeting moments of normalcy interspersed with daily struggle, crying, triggers, nightmares and despair. Compounded with ADHD, depression etc. and it’s been really terrible lately. I’m trying though. Hugs to everyone out there who are in this mental battle as well. ♥
This is so informative and it explains to me why do I behave medically, psychology and mentally after the severe trauma that happened in Jan this year. I was at loss for words to my friends about how I feel and why I feel this way. The initial stage was many attempts of suicide as I was literally paralysed with all the negative and condemning thoughts. I couldn’t sleep well and had nightmares daily. Slowly but steadily, I am on the road of recovery as I have God and Christian friends who will pray for me when anxiety / negative / emotional outbursts occurs. With this information, I shall be patient with myself and tell myself I will be healed eventually. No hurry … Thank you so much
After my first husband’s death I had acute depression and the memory loss was something that truly shocked me. I usually have an excellent memory but that stage of my life was the strangest time. I went for help and I was educated on my situation which helped a lot to understand what was happening to me.
This helped me so much. I’m 68 & when little girl my father would come home in a bad mood and whip us for something, anything. It was terrifying and to this day if someone yells at me or raises their voice in an instant I go back to the little girl. I freeze, start shaking, cry run to my room & am traumatized for maybe 10 days & it’s so hard for anyone to understand. They just think you’re too sensitive. I’m trapped. Thank you for helping me understand.
This is so sad, my dad came back from front line in Ukraine and he has all these symptoms from horrible things that he experienced and saw and this is so difficult even for civilians to just be near such an unstable person. I hope there will be a way for him to heal and I will try to translate this article for my mom, so she understands what’s happening. Thank you for such a useful article.
You are such a blessing! My husband passed away 2 1/2 months ago, after 55 days in cardiac ICU. I have experience most of these things you’re talking about. About a week after he passed I started practicing meditation and safety affirmations to clear my head and calm down, and it has helped but I can tell I’ve got more work to do. (For example, I get triggered by the water heater at work because it sounds disturbingly like his ECMO life-support machine. Weird but true.) The science loving part of me always wants to understand things, and you explained everything so well! Thank you for the time you take to share information with people here. I look forward to healing trauma. You’ve got a subscriber and I will be recommending your website to others. 💜💜💜
Thank you for the 1,000 pound weight lifted from my body. Just understanding what is happening to me feels like half of the solution. Listening to someone describe and understand PTSD is a relief when from the outside it feels like everyone sees it as this monster when it’s not actually you, it’s your trauma. Ive felt so terrible lately with no hope and now I have a to-do list. Your articles have been life changing for me. THANK YOU
i just found this website. i hope it tells me HOW TO SURVIVE, and IMPROVE MY REACTIONS, after all the wonderful information justifying my feelings also. i have wasted years and years of my life with PTSD controlling me daily. i am only alive today because of a loving husband, bless his soul, and a caring, stable, counselor, who taught me how to at least live with my issues, but not how to move on after the trauma.
I have realized that my fear of people came from Childhood trauma and convinced myself as an adult that the threat I perceive is not real. But everytime I tried to trust again I end up getting used, taken advantage of, lied to or whatever. Now I am convinced that most people are not safe to be around so my fears were true all along. Its so embedded in me now that I dont think I will ever trust again, what to do?
I couldn’t finish this article all at once anyway. PTSD is the hardest ‘thing’ I have ever gone through. When she talked about the symptoms, like certain triggers and memories of the Trauma. It’s not just the memory of a particular day, but the feeling of that day, then facing the realization of what happened, then taking it all in when being diagnosed with PTSD, then thoughts of what I would feel if I was to run into that person(s) when in fact its a ‘what if’ I ran into these particular people. (It doesn’t help me any when I have a vivid imagination when it comes to my what ifs good or bad) But putting my past Trauma, present anxiety, and future worries all at once. It’s bound to become a splitting headache, red tired eyes, and lots of tissues due to runny snot from the nose. For a time, I hated to take baths and showers knowing that’s where my PTSD likes to kick in the most. And the crying ‘spells’ would come out of nowhere, at the time not knowing what triggered it at that moment. Its a progress, lots of venting and therapy sessions, but eventually Ill be able to get through this 10 min long article without feeling anxiety.
This article hit me like a ton of bricks! As an elderly woman, trauma began at 5-6 years old. Severely affected my nervous system by 13 years old. In the last 15 years I’ve been trying to explain to my PCP that my health has been declining because of recurring traumatic incidents. My cortisol levels are high which un turn affects my BP, eyes, my insulin levels, unresolved pain from injuries, and sweats. All of this is new! I had no diagnosis of any of these health issues until an event that was both physical and emotional impacted me 3 years ago. I feel like I aged 20 years in the past 2. My doctor wants to look at one complaint at a time, when I say I think it’s from high cortisol levels ( as my lab tests prove) I get pushback and I can only visit doctor for ONE health issue! Idk how to explain my declining ( severe) health. And how I believe that if I was listened to or looked at with the whole body together. I’m exhausted by all this.
I was sent to my local hospital to get free counselling for trauma I experienced as a sixteen yr old. I did a couple of months of cognitive processing therapy and its the best thing I have done for myself. Studies results are in and around 70 percent of people suffering from PTSD had significantly healed it from this new therapy. ❤
Just a helpful hint for others: for me staying highly self aware is what keeps me grounded, and allows for me to think clearly and analyze and ask my self questions to assess a situation or in counter. And staying empathetic will help you feel for others and keep you from some darkness. PTSD is a b word and tiz not most of our faults. Life and experiences happen and I’m sorry so many have shit head parents that help cater to keeping us sick. Peace and love for the win hugz to all humans struggling we can do this and we can influence the rest of the world to be aware and take care of one self.
I was 16 when I was attacked. The smallest things.. his name (a common one), the name of the month, the day of the month, the year.. all triggers that I encounter on a regular basis. That part you mentioned about someone standing behind you almost made me cry because I used to have to get out of the line because I would get nauseous and dizzy when someone got in line behind me. I still get anxiety but I force myself to stay put. The biggest problem was in the early days, weeks and months following the attack, I was told that it was time to get over it. Nobody wanted to hear about what happened to me. I was told that I needed to forgive and forget. If I didn’t forget, it meant I didn’t forgive and so I didn’t report it or anything. Ironically, I only remembered bits and pieces and was scared the police would not believe me because who forgets something like that?! That was 40 years ago. I’m 56 now. I have come a long way but still have only fragments of memories of what happened. Part of me wants to forget the little I remember and part of me feels like I need to remember what I have repressed in order to fully heal. Please, if you know someone who has been traumatized, encourage them to report it and go to the emergency room before they shower or anything. If it happened to you, it was not your fault! There is no time frame for healing and anyone who tells you to get over it might mean well but they don’t know what they are saying.
Who do you call when your in crisis in your head but not suicidal but need to talk to someone. I had been in my house for 10yrs, locked safety in my home. In Feb of ’24 it came to a head on NIGHT. I didn’t want to call a hotline for fear of being put into a hospital. I was Manic but not in real trouble, I needed to talk right then. Not a week or more to get an appointment or go to some mental health facility. I’ve been there for a rehab stint. They just give you meds and chill you for the moment then your set free. Problem is still there. If I didn’t know I had Religious Trauma to tell them how will they know. I Was Lost! Feb-April 5th 2024, I lost 51lbs. April the 5th I went outside looked up at the night sky and begged my moma who died in 2018 to help me. She came THROUGH me! Then my World Changed! I’m NOT, my mind is Not where it was. I don’t stay at home, I don’t live in Fear Anymore. But I had to do it on my own. Who can you call, just to talk it through, at a moments notice. Remember I’ve been out of society for 10 years, 2014- April 5th, 2024. ❤️🇺🇲❤️ Thanks for listening ❤
This was really helpful. I experienced a trauma half my lifetime ago, and have struggled ever since. Listening to how writing can help the different centers in the brain communicate properly made me realize that anytime I’ve journaled long-hand about anything, I’ve been able to be fully present, as well as gain clarity and have breakthroughs in multiple areas of my life, and get excited again about the future instead of feeling stuck. I journal long-hand less than I did as a kid, partly because I spend so much time typing, but now I’m realizing I should make a practice of journaling regularly. Thank you for sharing this!
Thank you SO MUCH!!! I experienced Trauma and I was so fortunate to have had a practice of 10 years of meditation beforehand. Now two years later after the traumatic experience, I am doing fine. I have learned that it is important to say NO and to stick to NO!!! I am grateful for my mindfulness training and the will it takes to stay mindful throughout the day!!! I healed my brain by focussing on my breath and body.
Thank-you for sharing this. I was diagnosed with PTSD in 2017. I’ve had CBT with EMDR for it. I am also Bipolar and have GAD. Although it is better as time goes on, occasionally there are things that trigger the flashbacks. I have learned to deal with it and writing in my mood journal has been a key step. I see my therapist virtually when needed. My mood journal is online through their office, and it has flags that alert them if needed. Very nice when I don’t recognize that I need to touch base with someone. Love your website, thanks again.
Thankyou so much for this information. When I asked for treatment for PTSD as I am convinced I have it, I was told that I was just probably depressed. I wasn’t even offered a CT or MRI on the brain to tell what was wrong with me. Now thanks to you, I have learnt the facts and I am going to insist that I am taken seriously.
I’m trying to deal with medical trauma and PTSD from last year from septic shock and being in the hospital for 5 weeks with 3 of them spent in ICU 😢 I’m extremely lucky to be alive and that trauma is on top of the trauma of my life since 1984 😢 I’m one of those “hard luck cases” from the 1980s, you name I’ve probably been through it, parents divorced, teen pregnancy at 14yo, grooming, targeted by a predator while I was vulnerable in my teenage pregnancy, there’s a lot more I just can’t list it all here, it’s too much for my poor brain 😢
Been doing IFS for the last few months to address my childhood trauma. By doing deep inner work, inner child work in particular I feel like I am able to better self-regulate my emotions. My body is more relaxed, I feel more confident and have more energy as a result. I’ve read multiple books on trauma, IFS, spirituality and learned that most of my adulthood I was using an adaptation model (necessary for survival as a child) that was very disfunctional once my childhood ended. By building a relationship with my inner child I feel like my brain is learning a new way of regulating the emotions and is no longer on high alert all the time. It makes perfect sense: the more my inner child feels safe/loved and seen the better my brain is able to handle stress and emotions and is no longer working so hard to look for a threat that is not there anymore. Therapy been the hardest work I’ve ever done in my life as it’s difficult for us men to be vulnerable but what I’ve learnt that it’s the only way to start healing 💪💪❤️
Oh my, how grateful I am one of your articles showed up in my suggestions. This is what I need, to retrain my brain so I can function again. I went to therapy in 2020, but we never got to the exercise part, just getting to know ya. My insurance only covered 6 sessions. I felt I wasn’t accomplishing anything. I have made a tremendous amount of progress, but I still isolate & avoid anything that causes me anxiety. I was abused as a child by my father, that abuse continued until I cut ties as an adult. I have experienced several traumatic events, including one right now. I don’t know how YouTube knew I needed some insight, but I am glad It did.
Thank you for this concise yet detailed explanation of how trauma actually results in brain injury. It unfortunately destroyed my marriage, and the same hypervigilance/hyperarousal from the overactive amygdala/underactive hypocampus caused by child trauma has been a major factor in every divorce in my circle of friends. It is actually the silent society-destroyer.
Wow I know my therapist told me that I had a severe case of trauma PTSD like a war vet but I’ve been trying to learn more about why my mind’s work in the way it is and I happen to be lucky and actually have a great therapist only been seeing her for a couple of months but she is helping me understand my brain I just want to say I enjoy your article Your article helps makes sense of what’s going on Thank you for making these articles
My trauma always came out when I had “night terror”. It didn’t help that my mother would beat the crap out of me while I was having the “night terror”. Made it worse!! Also, people have accused me of being drugged out because of my nervousness. Therapy has helped me work through past trauma.. I haven’t had a “night terror” in 12 years. I’m grateful 🙏 ❤️ ✌️
50 years plus here. Seems like I only remember the bad things. And the day my Little Sister died. I remember the circumstances leading up to her being taken to the hospital. I had just turned 12 and she was 9. I remember calling the hospital and asking how my Little Sister was and when was she coming home. It feels like I did that more than once, but I only remember the last call. They told me my parents would be home soon and would explain things to me. That’s it. That’s all I remember of the night and barely remember my Mom and Grandma talking about her funeral. I got so angry at them. Then I remember seeing her in the coffin, but she looked so different I didn’t think that was her. After that my Dad became even more abusive than he was before. A lot of that time is just an image coming through. I wish I could remember the good times I had with my Little Sister. She was awesome.
Hi Emma from Italy. I’ve pursued a long psychotherapy that has been very helpful in so many ways but I recently realized that it has not been able to consider my issues by the point of view of a complex PTSD, due to events that happens in my childohood (now I’m 41), and which has been treated “only” as generalised anxiety and depression. So the work that I needed has been partial, in fact I have so many symptoms yet. I would like to thank you and your work because it’s also thank to your articles on your website and your website that I learned more about what I can do to eventually – I hope – heal and live a happy life and I recently contacted a new therapist with whom I will work on my CPTSD. Thank you very much.
This is one of the best articles I’ve ever watched on this topic. I love being able to see the diagram of the brain and visualizing what’s happening. Learning about neuroplasticity and the nervous system’s response to life events has been one of the most empowering and foundationing things in my journey of teaching my body that it’s safe and healing from depression. Thanks for making such thoughtful content and also emphasizing the hope and healing that can happen!
Wow, I’m so grateful to have found this article, it’s like you’re talking about me and what I’m dealing with, it’s such a struggle, but It’s so good to hear that you can reverse and heal, this made me so relieved, I’ll do my best following your instructions and checking the other articles you mentioned, thank you so much and God bless. Let us all hold this comment place with love and support of one another during this journey and think of each other succeeding and being happy for each other, let’s fill this with positive energy ❤ I support you and I see you and I feel you, we can get through this
Thank you for explaining this in such simple terms. It will help many. What was the game-changer 7 years ago was working with the body through, slow and steady TRE work, where I learned about grounding and self-regulation. CBT, meditating, and journaling was helpful but adding releasing chronic tension from the body /mind created the changes I was looking for. Not a quick fix but it made sense and helped me to befriend my body and what it was experiencing.
Emma thank you so much for this article. It’s one of the best clear and concise descriptions of what happens to you both during the initial trauma and the triggering experiences that come later. Many people just don’t understand and sometimes I feel like it’s my fault. So grateful that you’re addressing it. Look forward to more articles.
thank you so much for that informative and easy to follow explaination on trauma. a year ago I was in a car accident where I almost lost my life and sustained multiple major injuries that I am still dealing with in recovery today and into the foreseeable future. this article really helps me to feel validated in my experience and to understand that what has happened is my brain trying to process and protect itself and not just a personal weakness, overreaction or being overly emotional to the situation. I hope to be able to heal and find peace. thank you again, so glad I found your website!
I lost my parents in the early 60’s, and I had terrible tunnel vision. I remember saying to myself, I’m not here. I didn’t feel like I was in the present. So, my sisters threw me and my Brother into a reform school where we got beat and torchered mentally. I am in my sixties and finally the dust settled. Doctor, could you tell my family I am not bad, I just suffered a great trauma by losing my Parents? Your articles are awesome, thank you.
I’ve been journaling every night for the last week or so and my sleep has improved. I still have bad thoughts which I have to control because it causes my body to go into fight/flight/freeze and the corresponding boosts of Adrenalin and cortisol which I don’t need as I’m going to sleep. But journaling has alleviated all that to a marked degree. I meditated years ago, but life got in the way. I really should get back into it
I grew up with an abusive father who regularly hit over the head–usually for NO reason at all. He would also whip me with his belt, especially when he was in a bad mood–which he often was. My parents told me later that I had developed a deep fear of large objects that towered over me, such as big signs or poles. I later outgrew that. I also have a problem with physical coordination and agility. I’m clumsy. One good thing came of all this. Since my father was a chain smoker, I came to associate cigarette smoke with physical and emotional abuse. So I never smoked.
Reminder that some situations and people are NOT safe. Going limited-contact or no-contact with certain aggressors in our past can be an important part of being safe in the future. Most situations and people in your life ARE safe. Constant contact with people who have been abusive toward you is NOT going to help you heal.
I think a lot of us can relate to this immensely. So exhausted from dealing with it all, there is no amount of sleep that can quench the thirst of tiredness. In desperate need of spiritual healing because I don’t see any other way out of depression and mental health. As we get older I feel like we get softer. Stress is less tolerable and life’s pressures just make you a little sensitive in your old age. Don’t have the same energy did in the younger years to keep a float and keep going. Most are just walking zombies and low vibrational energy.
Thank you for this article! If it’s ok I would like to write down my story here, maybe it will help somebody who can relate: This happened in a French school: I was traumatized when I was 7 because I had a teacher who hit me every day (in the late 90s), selectively only me and nobody else. She would also keep humiliating me infront of the class, calling me stupid and an “asshead” at the blackboard, especially during math class. I never told my parents about this during the year because I was ashamed of this, I thought that it must be because there is something wrong with me. It was only at the end of the school year, when she got especially violent and I often returned home with a bleeding lip or a torn ear, that my parents realized what was going on and took action, but the school didn’t believe them at first. After a while other parents also came forth, and she eventually got fired I believe. But nobody ever adressed this, nobody told me “sorry” or that I was treated wrongly, business just continued as usual. The teacher really hated me, probably because I was a very shy child who kept quiet, and every time she started hitting me or insulting me I went into “turtle mode”, just freezing and waiting for her to finish and for it to be over, because I was a child and didn’t know what else to do. For some reason that might have triggered her aggression. This led to me fearing teachers for the rest of my school life, and trying never to get noticed or being in the center. This strategy got me through high school.
PTSD really changed my perspective on life several years ago…and left me feeling that flight and fight action…which is why I requested Counselling to go with the Reiki Healing I was able to use to heal and restore myself. Took 10 years but made me exceptionally unwell to begin with…but your right about noises afterwards as I did become very sensitive to everything. Dreams, nightmares and flashbacks were all part of this which is why I requested gestalt counselling ….
One of the scariest moments with strangers was when some guy was robbing the clubhouse at this apartment I lived at. I went to get a soda, and he was wearing a ski mask on the other side of the door. I turned and started to run, and he came out and told me to stop, and that he was taking pictures of himself for fun. I went to him because I knew he could outrun me and overpower me. I was like, hopefully, I don’t get raped, but I won’t fight it. He made up more excuses, and we eventually split. I went to my apartment, sighed, and didn’t tell the manager it was him.
You’re amazing! I can’t believe this information is free. I found a close friends body 2 days after he passed away from an overdose and I’ve been plagued with anxiety ever since. But I’ve always struggled with anxiety and depression so I didn’t really think that maybe I had PTSD from that incident. Now I’m pretty I have been struggling from PTSD and I’m going to talk to my doctor about it and I’m also going to try writing therapy and some other things. Thank you! This article is informative and explains how the brain reacts to trauma and I’m just beyond grateful that your website exists.
50 years of C-PTSD, Chronic Pain and multiple PTSD events for me. Mindfulness is very effective. Talking yourself out of anxiety. I’m experiencing this healing process right now. It takes deliberate work and unrelenting effort, but I’m finally experiencing some Peacefulness using my own effort to change traumatic, unconscious behavior.
My life was pretty normal until about 3 1/2 years ago, then a series of traumatic events hit, and haven’t stopped. I find myself just numb emotionally, it’s hard to be happy, have health anxiety, can’t sleep or relax, and have lost interest in things that used to bring me joy. I do feel like all this has changed my “wiring” and I want to rewire it back to normal. Thank you!
damn. this hit home with me on many levels. thank you. this is one of the best articles i’ve seen on this subject. very informative yet also easy to understand how trauma and PTSD effects the brain in the most helpful of ways. but i’m wondering if anyone else experiences something that’s been happening to me lately?.. as soon as i wake up, like the very second my eyes open, a flood of unsettling thoughts, memories and feelings come over me that is beyond overwhelming and i start crying and/or screaming. all of this imagery and flood of feelings running towards me at an alarming rate and needless to say, not a great way to start my day. the best metaphor i can think of to describe how it feels would be like if you were standing in the middle of a quiet little street and you suddenly look up to see traffic coming towards you and darting around you at 100 miles per hour but you can barely move. you can kinda move your body away but your feet can’t move, you can’t walk, let alone run. like your feet are glued down to the ground. does anyone else experience that?..thank you in advance 🧡…
I had horrible trauma when my mom died. Part of that trauma was being at the casket in the funeral home seeing my mother laid out in a plastic gown because her clothes weren’t presentable and being there by myself. I went to a service for my husbands friend that passed away and the crowd that showed up triggered me. Family and friends filled the room. My mother just had me. My 4 siblings didn’t think any service was necessary. I had one hour to say goodbye alone. I will never be the same. Last night after that experience I woke up in the middle of the night crying to the point I couldn’t fully breathe. How can family not care about showing respect ? It’s your mother. I have complicated grief 😢
Thank you 💕💕 My 16 year old son suffers from ADD/ADHD/ Dyslexia, and also has scoliosis which run on the male side of my family. I believe the fluid from his brain to spin, spin to brain is not flowing how it should because of his condition with scoliosis causing great discomfort! Also what I feel is affecting my son is the absence of his father but has caused a lot of problems for us due to domestic’s and then I have my own trauma I’m dealing with which I’ve had to fight through for my sake and the sake of my beautiful children! Honesty speaking, I believe this all has affected my son’s behaviour although he has much support and come along way😏 This very informative information has helped me to understand more what maybe going on inside his brain and the struggle he is facing on a daily basis & will continue doing my upmost best to support him. We have moved homes, he has been diagnosed with the above mentioned which took years to do and has a mentor. Also has upcoming brain scans/tests in the next few months as children on the spectrum (depending) can suffer with some sort of seizures/hallucinations due to high temperature levels occurring and sensitivity. (I’m still learning) This information gave me great clarification of what my son possibly could be dealing with and how I can support him even more! Bless you my love and appreciate you sharing this knowledge 💕💕
Nice article! Your explanation on trauma and PTSD explains perfectly why a malignant narcissist is the way they are and why narcissism is a permanent personality disorder that cannot be treated. Psychologists know that malignant narcissism is caused by extreme emotional / mental trauma but few psychologists know that malignant narcissism is the result of a narcissist who has has been emotionally / mentally abused. Like you have said in the article, the brain (ego) adapts itself to what it already knows and understands and for the narcissist, when severe emotional / mental trauma is involved, the ego heals itself by physically changing/adapting the brain to a higher protective coping mechanism (what Freud termed as the “superego).” In other words, the narcissist becomes a “super narcissist,” which psychologists term as a malignant narcissist. My theory on why this happens is that when the narcissist’s ego is exposed to severe mental / emotional trauma the trauma physically changes the brain as you have stated in your article and the narcissist’s ego adapts itself by becoming a “superego.” However, since psychologist also do know that narcissist’s have already have a low “shame” tolerance (criticism), a malignant narcissist ego is so inflated that the malignant narcissist has almost or zero tolerance to shame which is the reason they go to any length to literally destroy anyone who questions/criticizes their authority or sense of self. In other words, as the malignant narcissist ego is so inflated (to the point where they are unable to cope to even reality) the malignant narcissist’s no longer has any ability to tolerate shame which explains why anything and everything will set off a malignant narcissist.
I am approaching my 70h birthday. Five years ago I began to use my brain by being curious over fear. I was like waking very, very slowly from a nightmare that I’d been sustaining for decades. I’m still triggered and socially non traumatized persons cannot relate. I feel that they are really lucky and tend to shy away from those who seek me to justify my rationale. It’s still hard every day but each time I max out my reasoning/fear I have found a home sanctuary to reload. I am very lucky and grateful and so happy to hear that there is a way forward for me and to remember that it’s not my fault someone else is unhappy. Love, Joy Respect, Do no intentional harm
When l told my GP that l had memories problems and something was wrong she said to me that l had to accept that this was life, and she said that referring me back to the memory clinic would not help she did not refer me and because l was suffering from trauma etc and l had no help from anyone l accepted this horrible existence nobody could see me or hear my cries my pain my anguish. I hated myself, didn’t think l was good enough for anything. l did not want to exist, didn’t even know about hippocampus. I don’t even know who I am I never knew who l was still don’t is this HELL am i in HELL and l cant get out l can’t wake up from my nightmare I am aware of it know more than ever but l am immobilised and my memory is so bad l truly won’t remember writing this but l feel the pain and sadness and despair writing it l am just waiting to die. I wish that people would be more loving caring and sharing to others
My husband killed himself and i found him after 3 days. What i saw i can never unsee. This month it will be 7 years and i am alone by choice and i still love him. I take medication for anxiety but i will never love anyone that way again. That part of me died with him. Can you believe i was mad that he didn’t take me with him. Part of me did die but i am left here on earth. I would take myself out but i know how badly it hurts and i don’t want to put my family and friends thru that pain. Im stuck here with an awful picture in my head that never goes away. Im sorry
Yes. Of course, I’m on edge because I have to live with my abuser for the last 19 years and it’s been difficult regulating my emotions and feelings. Having ADHD and Asperger’s Syndrome isn’t fun or easy. Everyone expects you to fake a smile and force yourself to be happy. Well, I can’t live like this anymore. I wasn’t built for this, I’m only one person and everyone else around me is too blind to see that or too deaf to hear me. Most people don’t care, so explain that!
Thank you so much for this enlightening article! I’ve been experiencing PTSD after a traumatic experience (a soul shock re-living my past life). I’ve been dissociated from my heart/emotions, my soul, feeling the numbness and worsened cognitive functions of my brain. I’ve been practicing yoga for 8 years and it’s helping me a lot now together with meditation, prayers, healthy food, food supplemets and walks in nature/in the fresh air. Wish everyone strength, patience, hope and love❤ Stay strong and appreciate yourself for every little step you make to your recovery🙏🙏💪
All you described has happened to me. I have physical problems as well as mental. I find it very hard to retain information, fatigue, digestive problems and im overweight. These things make me feel pretty useless and depressed and I feel that others do not understand and think I am stupid and lazy.I have recently started therapy and hope to recover. Thank you for sharing your article and helping me to understand what’s going on inside my brain and body.
If you are in a situation where you can never be safe you can also heal. This requires faith and higher powers. If you live in a war zone or surrounded by cruelty and malevolence then you have a great opportunity. You have the chance to conquer Fear finally and forever. Sanity will not help. This is how a warrior is born. And simultaneously we discover mysticism. The world is not objects and you are not a brain. You are a spiritual being. When I was 12 years old I sat on a slope below the Temple of Delphi. By this time I had already been beaten many times and stabbed. A girl older than me but still very young asked me to walk with her. We walked all the way to the sea. I asked her full name and she said just ” Athena”. I told her I did not believe she was the Goddess Athena. She laughed. I told her I had no faith in comic book gods. She said it does not matter. I asked why? She told me ” it does not matter because I have faith in you”. As I grew older never was I safe and it’s been 60 years. But I never killed an innocent man or failed to help women and children Athena stayed by my side and she still visits me and she still keeps me. Though I am not ” sane” I survived. I realize only courage is faithful and only honor is real and Athena.
45 years w/ PTSD. Years of talk therapy, meds & an intense DBT (Laura Lenihan?) program with a local Teaching Hospital about 25 years ago. I was in the program for 1-2 years, taking it over a few times. Seeing a Neuro now because what was originally thought to be a mini stroke 6 years ago was not, it was a stroke. After the MRI recently, lo and behold the prefrontal cortex is smaller than it should be. My new Neuro actually suggested word games and puzzles in hopes that may help. Been 9 months now. Not sure about this but I will try just about anything as everything suggested has Been implemented & still… Fight or Flight is my baseline. We will see. Someone close to me developed Addisons and goes into adrenal crisis a few times a month. I am grateful I have not had to endure that. Heartbreaking
Thank you so much!! I’ve needed this. After,what I believe to be, three toxic relationships – one with what I think is a narcissist and two with sociopaths, I am completely on edge, all the time. I cant sleep. I stutter all the time, I shake, and I can’t remember anything. I can’t think straight. I’m so depressed, I just want to cry all the time. I’m having all kinds of physical problems and my anxiety, without medication, is unbearable. I literally hate to leave my house for fear of being seen – I used to be a social butterfly. I jump when my phone rings and go into flight mode every time someone knocks on my door. Loud noises bring me to tears. I need help. I will watch some of your articles and see if I can help myself. Thank you. Just writing this, I’m blubbering like a freakin baby. I’m afraid of life and that’s no way to live.
as a person who was molested for a year by my older brother then having nobody to feel safe telling and turning to the street life and making music since a kid for therapy reasons I have felt my brain die and die and die and its such a weird yet numbing feeling, I have been diagnosed from many doctors and therapists with antisocial disorders, PTSD, Dissociative personality disorders, tics similar to Tourette’s and heart problems due to the stress my body would go through quickly at a young age. in my teenage years I would be a different person when i went to school who was shy and to himself yet was trying to be happy and then a different person at night every night who would hurt “herself” and abuse “herself” for five years without even knowing it because I was to young and had not told anyone still. I wish that people could see that those like me are not trying to be mean sometimes or be weird or be standoffish but in my case I don’t trust men at all and I can’t really even have a relationship with a woman because of sexual flashbacks still even fourteen years after what I went through as a kid. Moral of the story I don’t wish my life on NOBODY not even my abuser but I do wish that everyone could appreciate being good people and understand each other and just learn to take their problems out on themselves and not animals or other people.
I’ve been in trauma therapy since 2018. The persons who traumatized me still have access to me. Nobody is going to stop them. Now I live isolated and financially poor, whereas I used to not be. I have to accept this. Recently I’ve been made aware of things that have me back sliding into depression. It’s the reality of things as they are and I’m losing interest in life. I’m realizing my brain and normal emotions have been tremendously impaired. It is depressing. Also I was 49 when the people began attacking me and now I’m 67. I don’t see any way my life will become normal again. Now I’ve watched this article, and the information is timely. To be honest, I believe my trauma therapists have taken me as far as they can. I think this because they seem to need me to step away from the trauma to pretend life is good. It’s not good. It sucks, and I’m alone. I know my brain has gotten messed up and any enthusiasm I have for anything is fleeting. Including I feel lazy because I can’t seem to do many things anymore that takes a number of steps to complete. I have to force myself. I know those people overwhelmed my hippocampus on purpose. You see, I was targeted by professional mind effers. They laid onto me for 18 years and like I have said, they still have access to me. Anyway, I’m going to watch your articles to see if despite them I can rebuild my hippocampus and shrink the amygdala so that I can feel normal life again. Although I don’t act it outwardly, I am internally hyper vigilante. I’ve worked hard to get this far in recovering, and hoping this will get me further makes me want to happy cry.
Thanks be to professor Robert Sapolsky for my double epiphany: 1) providing a clear pathway to support my lifelong claim and conviction that serious high art classical music and music-making makes people better human beings. and 2) Why the love of my life totally rejected me without warning or explanation, only fear, flight, freeze and total lies. Thanks to Dr. Sapolsky I understand her now. There is no free will. We’re blessed with the plasticity of the brain.
This… Gives me hope. I’m starting to think my years as a firefighter and medic in a correctional facility did more to me than what I thought (in addition to all the other hell I’ve been through in my life). I was recently diagnosed with C-PTSD and this correlates with what my therapist was explaining to me (as much as I could retain at that time anyway).
Thank you for this article. I found the contents very supportive having experienced life’s traumas and more recently walking along side a close friend in his recovery from a Aneurysm coil repair and experiencing anxiety due to the initial memory of the event. He receives mental exercises to heal this trauma and more! 🙂🌸
I can relate to this! I suffer from trauma as i had childhood trauma and adult trauma recently. I have had CBT counselling for survivors and one of the things that I learned was to rub my fingers gently on a cushioned seat or pillow. As it brings you back to the present time you are in and all you have to say toyour self is – i am in safe place and i am in the here and now. Imagine a article when i am experiencing PTSD and pressing pause or stop on the triggering memory. Which helps sometimes, as i find my issues are too deep rooted. Many thanks for putting this out there though as I found some of it very helpful. 🤗🥰💜
you’ve got a lovely calming voice. so polite and articulate, I have warm feelings stumbling across your article during a bout of depression now. My therapist told me just last week I’ve spent so much time in my head (my safe place) that she doesn’t think i’ve actually spent any time in my body. Not to mention my PTSD got triggered after pregnancy and childbirth and I spent a lot of the past few years just trying to recover from that. It’s hard living in fight flight fawn freeze day to day, thank you for the article. New sub!
So pleased I found this website. I have broken two therapists in the last year or so. I have been diagnosed with PTSD, Anxiety & Depression. All caused and recorded in my army medical history. I left the army in 1995 and since June that year, I have had to fight the British Government to recognise their responsibility for my circumstantial situation. 26 year later, I had a tribunal. The outcome of this was that they agreed to all 3 of my symptoms being directly caused by army service without reasonable doubt. I then had to wait another 3 months for the judges decision, even though within days of the trial, I received an email to let me know the judges had reached a unanimous decision, but they had requested an extension in time informing me of this decision. They could have told me there and then, but no. Had to wait another 3 months. I finally received confirmation of all 3 causes being due to army service, and a blank refusal for any compensation or even an increase in the tiny, barely significant pension I already receive since the first spinal surgery. I then had to apply to the judges of the tribunal for ‘permission’ for an appeal. This request was denied of course, as it would cost the government a small amount of money. What they consider small, is what might just be life changing for me. I owe my landlord over £4K at this point. My overdraft is maxed out. My 3 credit cards also maxed out and a loan which costs me £375 per month finally ends with the last payment in 3 months from now including the last payment on my daughters 17th birthday 8th June, where I should be buying her a car like most dads might want to for their child turning of age.
Just consistent bullying and some other problems led to ptsd in junior high because of my aspergers, I have found fan fiction and print on demand books that I’ve written have helped so much because, as she said, writing means you are in the present and creating, and therefore you can tell yourself that you are not in a flashback. My faith in Jesus as my Savior has also helped immensely. I really sense He has given me this talent because he knows I need it.
My son was set up by his gf 5 years ago and killed. He was shot. Instead of calling 911 she called me and me and my other son went over there and found him shot. She was hiding in the alley. I got his blood all over me trying to help him while on the phone with 911. He died at the hospital. It’s been 5 years and I’ve gained 40 lbs even though I hardly eat. I don’t dream but can’t sleep. Nerves, nerve damage. Digestive issues. I fought cancer last year, I know was triggered by the depression and stress. I hate this! I have other children. I live in constant fear of reliving trauma! I tried counseling, nothing helps!
Is this is a great overview – I’ve heard about trauma changing the brain but never in a way that was so easy to understand. But wow the neuroplasticity! When you mentioned journaling during an emotional trigger I started to cry. That’s a practice I started probably 5 years ago and I cannot speak to the wonderful ways it has helped me regulate my emotions. Would love to see you do a article on cPTSD and also, cheers to the vid on how we can overcome PTSD – I’m here to tell you there is hope! As far as mindfulness goes – take improv classes! I took them over two and a half years and they helped quell my anxiety and put me into a place of NOW. My amygdala was working hard trying to perceive threats and I had all this baggage around trying to control situations and relationships to keep myself safe – as simple as it sounds improv taught me to thrive in discomfort and that I will be okay.
This is awesome. I’m going to listen again and write it all down. As I realised recently, it doesn’t necessarily take much to cause PTSD flight fight response. I blamed myself for 2 months of why I could not recover after briefly dating a narcissist/sociopath. I just kept reliving and reliving the trauma into the depths of depression and anxiety. 2 months later I started writing about it for compensation purposes. I believe it helped sooo much. And then started deep breathing exercises : see “Change your breath, change your life” article. The effects within 24 hours were profound! On the path to heal finally ! Yay normal brain coming back 😁💚
At the age of 21, I suddenly lost my ability to read. It took years to be able to read a page in under 15 minutes. I started a career in a machine shop. People would get in my face and scream at me when I asked them to repeat themselves two or three times. I struggled to process information. Now I’m 52. Never married, no kids. As I’ve seen this world morph into what it is today, maybe I’m lucky!