For healing trauma, three parts of the brain must be online. They are the Thalamus, Watchtower, and Timekeeper. It’s how we build and maintain our window of tolerance. When we are fully aware of what’s going on right now, we can feel safe. This helps us process the past, in a time when we felt anything but safe. However, the brain is a little more complex than just the three parts. To understand the significance they have in healing trauma, we must understand two other parts of the brain, the starter and the reactor. They are the Hippocampus (starter) and Amygdala (reactor). The hippocampus is the main source of information for the thalamus and the timekeeper. The thalamus is the main source of information for the amygdala and then the watchtower.
Now, let’s start with keywords:
Limbic System: (Emotion Brain) Three parts of the brain are included here.
- Hippocampus: (Memory Storage) The starter, because trauma begins with our memories.
- Thalamus: (Perspective of Now)
- Amygdala: (Emergencies in the Present) The reactor, (especially in a flashback), is reacting to our memories.
Prefrontal Cortex: (Social Brain and Executive Functioning) The other two parts of the brain are housed in this area.
- Timekeeper (All Things Time Related)
- Watchtower (Observer of Our Environment and Our Self-Awareness in it)
It’s worth noting that the Timekeeper’s medical term is dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. And the Watchtower’s is medial prefrontal cortex. It’s thanks to Bessel Van der Kolk (The Body Keeps the Score) that we have simplified nicknames.
The Starter: Hippocampus to the Thalamus and Timekeeper
Naturally, trauma begins with our developing memories. So, the hippocampus plays a crucial role. It has two major pathways, one to the thalamus and the other to the timekeeper.
The hippocampus’s top priority is sharing what it remembers and what it has learned with our thalamus. Have you ever heard of eyewitnesses describing a terrifying event and their accounts all differ slightly? That’s because our memories heavily influence what we notice and what it means to us. From the mundane: How do we know we are seeing a tree? Because our past experiences have taught us how to spot a tree. To how we determine a potential threat. Where the latter is concerned, the more bad memories we have, the more bad we will notice in the moment. (Negative Noticing in Trauma Glossary 2.)
The worse we notice, the more it impacts our perception of how long the event will last. That’s because our timekeeper gets second dibs from our hippocampus. The timekeeper lives up to its nickname, because if it’s time related, this part of our brain is involved. From motor timing, event planning, and our perception of how long our present event will last. Where painful memories are concerned, the hippocampus is our Murphy’s Law. The bad memories stick and the worse the memory, the more recent it feels in our present life. No wonder we are prone to flashbacks (Trauma Glossary 2) if something that happened twenty years ago can feel like it happened last week or worse, happening now. Healing trauma helps us slot those memories into a more accurate timeline. But first, we must get the timekeeper and thalamus to work together and build a modicum of safety.
Healing Trauma: Time Flies vs. It’s Taking Forever!
Yet another Murphy’s Law, this time for the timekeeper. It’s a well-known fact, time zips by when we are enjoying the moment. When we are in a situation we don’t like, however, it’s the reverse. Whether we are losing our patience or feeling depressed, the moment (thalamus) feels endless (timekeeper). When a situation feels like it’s never going to end, our timekeeper is offline, which is opposite of what we want for healing our trauma. Don’t worry, everyone’s timekeeper goes offline in such situations. This is simply to provide context for ways we can keep them both online.
It starts with our perspective of what’s going on now and knowing that it will end. Processing our trauma means confronting the worst experiences of our lives. So, establishing that modicum of safety with our sense of time in the moment is crucial. Some mundane exercises outside the therapy office can help strengthen this relationship between the thalamus and timekeeper. Next time you’re in a long line or stuck in a traffic jam, first validate how you feel about this inconvenience. Then follow it up with a reminder that while yes, this situation will take longer than planned, it will end. Of course we know all unpleasant situations will end when we are not in them. It’s a different thing entirely when we are experiencing the moment. You would be surprised how often our sense of time is aggravating our perception of what’s going on.
The Now and the Reactor: The Thalamus to the Amygdala
The amygdala works similarly to the stress chemical, adrenaline (Epinephrine in section 3 of Trauma Glossary 3). It controls our startle response and when it’s hijacked, it will determine whether we fight or flee a dangerous situation.
Bessel Van der Kolk nicknamed the thalamus “the cook” and the amygdala “the smoke detector.” His analogy is that the thalamus is cooking a “soup” and it’s using all five of our senses for ingredients. So, whatever we notice in the moment goes into this soup. Before the thalamus feeds this to any part of our brain, it must first pass the amygdala’s inspection. If one or more of our senses have been triggered, the soup is “too hot.” This will cause the smoke detector to go off.
Thus, how we can become hyper-aroused (easily startled) or hypo-aroused (checking out from the present moment) and it’s why building our window of tolerance becomes so important. There are tools for building our Window of Tolerance in Master Toolbox 1, but what is it?
Healing Trauma: Our Window of Tolerance
The window of tolerance is where we can stay present while managing our stress in uncomfortable situations. It’s that tolerable state in between the two extremes of hyper-aroused and hypo-aroused.
Hyper-aroused: Overwhelmed by Fight or Flight emotions (anger, fear, anxiety). Also check in with your body. What is it doing? What does it want? The body typically craves movement when it’s hyper-aroused.
Hypo-aroused: Dissociation (Trauma Glossary 2). This is the Freeze state. It’s when we are easily distracted by the random and mundane or pulled inward by thoughts or daydreams. Check in with your body. How is your posture? What does it want? The body typically slouches, head drooped towards the floor, as it’s craving inertia.
In some extreme cases, hyper-arousal can send one straight into hypo-aroused. This is where the body either wants to curl into fetal position or fall into collapse mode. It’s when we are responding to fear and determine we are powerless. The body is giving up on any hope of Fight or Flight.
Obviously, we don’t want either extreme and falling into hyper or hypo-arousal will hurt our healing more than it will help. Our window of tolerance is not comfortable, it’s tolerable. It’s where we can stay present and focused without our “smoke detector” sounding the alarm. Staying present and inside that window is crucial for keeping our thalamus online. The thalamus must pass the amygdala’s inspection because we’re depending on it to message one last piece of our brain and ensure it stays online.
The Results: The Thalamus to the Watchtower
Once it passes the amygdala’s inspection, the thalamus feeds the watchtower. The watchtower is right above the spot between our eyes. It’s the leader of the midline of our brain, known as the Mohawk of Self-Awareness. So, putting it together, the watchtower sees that “all is well” on the outside. Then it passes on the message to the other parts of the brain in the Mohawk line. It’s how we can (or not) check inward to confirm that “all is well” with our thoughts and feelings. This determines how we respond to and participate in mundane events.
When our window of tolerance collapses, all is not well with our watchtower and it won’t check in with our mohawk. This is where mindfulness and grounding play a vital role in building and maintaining that window. Both are tools that soothe us out of hyper-arousal. Mindfulness and grounding are using our five senses for tuning into the present. So, they pull us out of hypo-arousal as well.
Healing Trauma: Putting it All Together
This article has been an introduction to what we need for healing our trauma and why. In the upcoming weeks, we will go more in depth on the thalamus, timekeeper, and watchtower. We will cover the problems we may have with each piece and what we can do about them. For now, I will leave you with some important keywords for treating our trauma so that we can start to thrive.
Notice That: (Thalamus) It’s all in what we are noticing that determines what we will focus on.
What Happens Next: (Timekeeper) Painful memories (Looping Trauma Glossary 2) can get us mentally stuck in a “time warp” or loop. When we follow up the memory with: What happened next? And then what? And then what? We begin building a more accurate timeline. What happens next helps us in present situations. We practice enduring unpleasantness by reminding ourselves that this will end.
Now Check Inward: (Watchtower) We tune in with our thoughts and feelings when we are fully present and aware of our environment.