Trauma Glossary 3: Brain and Body on Trauma

Section 1: Brain

For the parts of the brain, I’ve opted to go with Bessel Van der Kolk’s far more simplified terms. This is because the closer you get to the top of the brain, the longer and more complicated the terms get. (Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, for example, becomes the Timekeeper, thanks to him.) There are 10 parts in all, divided into three main groups (in order from bottom most part of the brain to the top) for what I hope will be the easiest means of digesting: Primitive Brain, or “Lizard Brain” (2 parts) Emotion Brain or Limbic System (3 parts); Executive Functioning, or Prefrontal Cortex (5 parts total; two of which are in the subcategory of Control Panel, as you will see).

Primitive Brain (“Lizard Brain”): bottom most part of your brain which developed first. Like its namesake, it’s concerned with mere day-to-day existence:

• Brain stem: keywords are “Basic Housekeeping”. It controls life-sustaining balance of sleep, appetite, touch, digestion, arousal, breathing. It’s important to note that many trauma issues affect these basic housekeeping functions.

• Cerebellum: directly above the brain stem and just below the “Emotion Brain” Limbic System. This part is primarily concerned with motor function. It is fed by the Basil Ganglia, which feeds the Timekeeper (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex), which in turn, determines motor *timing*.

See also under Prefrontal Cortex: Control Panel -Basil Ganglia; Timekeeper

Limbic System (Emotion Brain): “mammalian brain” larger area of bottom portion of the brain which starts rapidly developing after birth. This controls the default settings for daily survival. Based on the environmental development, it determines what’s scary vs. pleasurable and what’s a challenge vs. threat; what is/not important for survival. It relies on the familiar and is concerned primarily with surviving NOT thriving:

• Amygdala: small part of the brain that gets hijacked when startled; bypassing reason to react through survival instincts in the blink of an eye; activates either fight/flight/freeze/fawn responses. Van der Kolk refers to this as the brain’s “smoke detector”

• Hippocampus: your brain’s “hard drive” or memory storage; the organizer of our experiences into tangible stories. 1) When affected by trauma, the system gets overloaded and the memory fragments; resulting in how one can vividly recall parts of one’s trauma while its fragmented “slivers” or minor details can undergo the copy/paste effect, where it’s slotted elsewhere or forgotten on a conscious level. 2) Since primitive times, it’s been wired to recall bad events better than the good. This helped insure our species’ survival. The more trauma, the greater the challenge is to hold onto pleasant memories. This directly affects one’s outlook on life, which influences one’s confidence and self-esteem. 3) Where pathways are concerned, it feeds the thalamus, which gets first dibs on our memories to interpret what’s going on in the now (our perception of events). Microseconds later, it feeds the brain’s Timekeeper (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) which determines our perception of time.

See also Thalamus; under Prefrontal Cortex: Timekeeper

Tools for the hippocampus can be found in Master Toolbox 2

• Thalamus: keyword: the brain’s “cook” (Van der Kolk) it wraps around the Amygdala, which is the brain’s “smoke detector” (Van der Kolk). This serves multiple purposes: 1) feeding off the hippocampus (memory storage “hard drive”) it in turn utilizes all five senses to determine what is happening right now. Due to its location, alone, its perception of the present moment passes to the Amygdala “smoke detector” before it reaches the Amygdala’s counterweight, the brain’s Watchtower, or medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC). 2) acts as filter for concentration, attention, new learning, or muffling “background noise” to focus. It’s important to note that many with PTSD over adapt by developing tunnel vision and/or hyper focus but in the process, filter out experiences of joy and pleasure. 3) Takes its perception of now and feeds both parts of the brain’s Control Panel, which in turn will determine how it will function or dysfunction on the executive levels.

See also Amygdala; Hippocampus; under Prefrontal Cortex: Control Panel; Watchtower

Tools for the thalamus can be found in Master Toolbox 2

Prefrontal Cortex: Executive Functioning, Social, Planning, Reason, “the seat of empathy”; the top part of the brain that starts developing by grade school age. This is where one adapts and learns to understand different perceptions and values to be safe in a group:

• Broca’s Area: This is your Communication Center, both “sending” and “receiving” information by either written or verbal. It organizes one’s experience into words, (sending) as well as one’s ability to process and understand what others are communicating (receiving). This is in the left side of the brain (Remember the most generalized understanding of all: Left vs. Right side of brain. Right side: intuition, emotions, creativity; Left side: logical, rationalizing, analytical.) Due to how trauma makes no sense, the left side is confused and therefore deactivates during trauma and flashbacks -the “speechless horror” effect. The brain is filled with sensory and images but no words. As more trauma develops over time, the more easily the Communications Center can go offline, (known as aphasia, which most people with CPTSD have mild to moderate aphasia) making it difficult to articulate thoughts on even ordinary events. One still grasps language, one just has difficulty communicating or piecing together what one is grasping, which can range from going completely blank in the moment to having only one or two keywords. Most often, a problematic Broca’s Area is marked by slow speech.

Tools for Broca’s Area can be found in Master Toolbox 2

• Control Panel: two parts of the brain that, when considered together, act as primary influencers on whether one’s executive levels are functioning or not. (And, if incorporating mindfulness, can catch oneself in the act of the dysfunctional spiral and “course correct”.) Both parts act as “messengers” feeding off the Thalamus and in turn, feed the brain’s Timekeeper. In addition to this, they influence the Watchtower. When the brain’s Control Panel is humming, there is: flow; motivated planning; an ability to see multiple options in the moment and therefore being open to “Plan B’s”; and finally, an ability to experience daily pleasures without allowing the pleasure activity to consume one’s day (In other words, an understanding of the cliché “all good things must end” and being okay with that.) The two parts of the Control Panel are:

1.  ACG (Anterior Cingulate Gyrus): the brain’s “Gear Shift” that, when humming, shifts smoothly between one’s thoughts and feelings; in addition, it determines the transition from task to task. However, a stuck Gear Shift has been linked to both OCD and addictions, as there is no stop signal. This spirals into rigidity, mentally “looping” or ruminating, as a stuck Gear Shift traps one between one’s thoughts and feelings. Then finally, giving up as one becomes unmotivated.
2. BG (Basal Ganglia): widely known as Pleasure Awareness, it’s also the Idle/Thrust companion to the ACG “Gear Shift” as the BG determines how much energy will be devoted to tasks. Also noteworthy is, in addition to acting as “messenger” between the Thalamus and Timekeeper (like the ACG), the BG also feeds the Cerebellum (motor function), so that as it travels to the Timekeeper, we also get motor timing. And as it feeds the Watchtower, we get actionable (or not) behavior. The BG is the storage and release of the body chemical, GABA (the nervous system’s calming agent). A blocked BG, in conjunction with a stuck ACG is most evident in one’s habit of going “all in” effect (as is so common in CPTSD), where one’s pleasure or interest is concerned, while simultaneously neglecting or shutting out other parts of one’s life that could potentially bring more fulfillment. Drain the pleasure, drain the energy, which in turn, numbs the emotions. This spirals into a pessimism, hyper-vigilance, catastrophizing, self-defeatist thinking (e.g., “I’m faulty”) and finally, negative emotions overload as one’s perception shrinks.

See also Timekeeper; Watchtower; under Primitive Brain: Cerebellum; under Limbic System: Thalamus; under Section 3: Body Chemicals: GABA

Tools for Control Panel can be found in Master Toolbox 2

• Timekeeper (DLPFC-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex): like its namesake, it determines 1) one’s *perception* of time in the now (e.g., A long to-do list due to one’s perception of a single day being more infinite than reality; and/or limited time being perceived as “no time” or losing time more swiftly than reality.) 2) Event Timing 3) Motor Timing. The Timekeeper feeds off hippocampus to utilize one’s personal history as how it relates to the present and how it will impact one’s future. The Timekeeper feeds off the Control Panel to, ideally, determine that what is happening now will end and therefore, ensures one’s ability to tolerate unpleasant situations. However, when Timekeeper is not fully online, the situation feels like it will go on forever (E.g., Depression feels like one will never be happy again.) and can therefore make one irritable, hypersensitive, self-defeatist or hurried.

See also Control Panel 1 &2; under Limbic System: Hippocampus

Tools for the Timekeeper can be found in Master Toolbox 2

• Watchtower (MPFC-medial prefrontal cortex): 1) major component in sensory self-awareness, the very key to observing one’s inner experience to plan actions and making choices; the ability to recognize and name emotions and body sensations to listen to and trust one’s gut/intuition that can and will prevent one from being re-traumatized. 2) feeds off the thalamus to act as counterweight to the amygdala. Most common example is when a person one trusts enters the room unexpectedly. One jumps, startled (Amygdala) and in the next beat, seeing that the person poses no threat (Watchtower), reason sets in and stills the fight/flight response. Like its namesake, the Watchtower’s primary function is to ensure “All is well” and adapt accordingly. *In Trauma* the problem lies in (function 2) Watchtower adapting accordingly to offset the amygdala by (function 1) shutting off painful emotions, simultaneously dampens the ability to feel fully alive. One’s self-perception shrinks and with it, robs one of both purpose and direction, from pursuing one’s dreams, to accomplishing day-to-day tasks.

See also Control Panel; under Limbic System: Amygdala; Thalamus

Tools for the Watchtower can be found in Master Toolbox 2