{"id":19043,"date":"2020-11-23T20:31:41","date_gmt":"2020-11-24T00:31:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=19043"},"modified":"2020-12-04T23:34:35","modified_gmt":"2020-12-05T03:34:35","slug":"ptsd-brain-imaging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ptsd-brain-imaging\/","title":{"rendered":"How PTSD Brain Imaging Reveals the Truth of Trauma"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How does PTSD brain imaging work? Can we see how the brain reacts to trauma using imaging? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PTSD brain imaging allowed scientists to look at the physical way that the brain processes and reacts to trauma, including how PTSD works. This enables scientists to make new discoveries in the way the brain works, including how we handle trauma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more about PTSD brain imaging and related discoveries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

PTSD Brain Imaging Reveals Trauma\u2019s Effect on the Brain<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The advent of brain-imaging technology in the early 1990s gave scientists new insight into the way brains process information, memories, sensations, and emotions. Previous research measuring brain chemicals (like serotonin) revealed what fueled brain activity — like trying to understand how a car engine works by studying the gasoline — whereas this new technology was like looking inside the engine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With these tools, researchers learned that trauma leaves an imprint on the mind, brain, and body that has long-term effects for how you survive in the present. In the ways that trauma impacts perceptions, imagination, relationships with other people, and other mental processes, it not only changes how and what you think, but your <\/strong>capacity<\/em><\/strong> to think. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, traditional talk therapy is typically insufficient treatment for trauma, because it doesn\u2019t repair the physical and hormonal responses that cause trauma survivors to be hypervigilant to threats. Instead, in order to heal the survivor needs to internalize — mentally and physically — the understanding that the trauma is in the past, so that she can live in the present<\/a> without being haunted by the event. <\/strong>We\u2019ll explore ways to achieve this in later chapters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parts of the Brain Affected by Trauma <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The author enlisted eight trauma survivors to participate in a study in which he and other researchers would recreate scenes of their trauma — essentially triggering a flashback — as they had their brains scanned to see the reactions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers found that participants\u2019 amygdalas (the cluster of brain cells that distinguishes threats) activated in response to images, sounds, or thoughts related to their trauma as if the danger was present — no matter how many years had passed since the traumatic event actually occurred.<\/strong> The amygdala rings the alarm of impending danger, and the body releases stress hormones and nerve impulses that make blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen intake rise in preparation for fight or flight. PTSD brain imaging is able to show these changes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flashbacks Inhibit Speech<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

PTSD brain imaging shows areas where the brain is inhibited. During the brain scan experiment, the researchers also found that a part of the brain called Broca\u2019s area was debilitated during a flashback. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broca\u2019s area is a speech center in the brain that is key to being able to articulate your thoughts and feelings<\/a>; Broca\u2019s area is often affected in stroke victims. The experiment showed that trauma flashbacks<\/a> can cause temporary physical effects — the brain\u2019s speech control center going offline — that are comparable to strokes.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But trauma survivors\u2019 difficulty with speech lasts beyond the confines of a flashback; years after a traumatic event, survivors struggle to express what happened. With time, most develop what the author calls a \u201ccover story,\u201d an outline of the basic events, but these cover stories fail to capture the depth of the experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flashbacks Trigger Intense Emotions While Debilitating Logic<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

While speech is inhibited during flashbacks, another part of the brain called Brodmann\u2019s area 19 was activated in participants\u2019 brains during the flashbacks. Brodmann\u2019s area 19 is responsible for managing images as they enter the brain, then sending them to other areas of the brain<\/a> to interpret the images\u2019 meanings. This is another interesting thing PTSD brian imaging can show us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fact that the flashbacks triggered Brodmann\u2019s area 19 — where raw images are processed — indicated that the brain was acting as if the traumatic event were occurring, not just the memory of it. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, the traumatic images activated the right hemisphere of participants\u2019 brains while deactivating the left. As they pertain to memories, the right and left hemispheres of the brain<\/a> operate very differently. This can also be seen in PTSD brain imaging. <\/p>\n\n\n\n