How Trauma Impacts the Brain & 4 Ways to Cope with PTSD

Many people recognize that traumatic events can result in lingering symptoms of PTSD, including nightmares, flashbacks, hyper-vigilance, irritability, anxiety, fear, avoidance, and more. What people often don’t realize is that traumatic events can actually impact the brain, both in terms of brain development (in children) and overall brain functioning.

This is due to neuroplasticity, which essentially refers to our brains’ abilities to adapt to different situations and environments over time. When the brain experiences a traumatic, disturbing, or unsafe situation, it is going to want to adapt to ensure that you stay safe in the future. This may mean that your brain will want to be on high alert for potential threatening situations so that it can swiftly react and keep you safe next time a threat occurs. With this, clinical research has demonstrated that three parts of the brain can be impacted following a trauma: the amygdala, the hippocampus, and the prefrontal cortex.

Before we get into the science of it all, let’s walk through an example to better understand what’s going on: imagine that you take a walk down a trail next to a river one afternoon. You’ve been meandering down the trail un-phased, when suddenly and unexpectedly, a large snake slithers out in front of you. Most likely, you would have a startle response: you may flinch or jump backwards, your heart rate may increase, your breathing might become more rapid, etc. Let’s say you revisit this trail the next day. While walking along, you notice a crooked stick in your path. Your immediate, unconscious response may be to jump backwards and move away from the snake. Why? Because your brain is in a state of heightened alertness (having just seen a snake yesterday), and — in an effort to keep you safe from threats — it misperceived the stick as something dangerous.

This example is not to suggest that seeing a snake in the woods is traumatic, per se (though it’s okay if that does sound traumatizing to you!), but rather to provide a simple example as to how our brains respond after threatening, dangerous, or traumatic situations. Below, I’ll break down the different parts of the brain that are most often impacted after a traumatic event occurs:

• The hippocampus

  • The hippocampus is a part of our brain that’s responsible for learning and memory. Research has shown that individuals who were exposed to traumatic events are more likely to have smaller hippocampuses, which is believed to be due to prolonged exposure to stress hormones. This impact on the hippocampus may make it more difficult to form new memories.

• The amygdala

  • The amygdala is responsible for your survival instincts (think “fight or flight” responses), memory, and controlling/regulating emotions. When the amygdala is impacted by trauma, it may become hyperactive. This results in an increased alertness of one’s surroundings, which is the brain’s way of making an extra effort to assess for threats. This can lead to hyper-vigilance, difficulty relaxing, and difficulties with sleep. Further, it may feel more difficult to regulate emotions, and/or emotions can feel “bigger” or more intense.

• The prefrontal cortex

  • The prefrontal cortex helps to control the activity of the amygdala by signaling when situations are safe or unsafe. When someone has experienced trauma, the prefrontal cortex may have a harder time determining what is and isn’t a safety threat. The result can be increased panic, anxiety, and more frequent fight or flight responses.

As previously mentioned, the brain adapts in these ways because it wants to keep you safe after experiencing a (physically or emotionally) unsafe situation. The good news is that, thanks to neuroplasticity once again, the brain is also able to heal from trauma. Seeking therapy from a clinician who is trained in treating PTSD and trauma can be one important step in trauma recovery. I recommend looking for a therapist who is trauma-informed, and who is trained in modalities such as EMDR, TF-CBT (for youth and teens), polyvagal theory, or brainspotting (there are other wonderful trauma-based modalities out there as well — these are just a few!).

With all of this said, there are a few important takeaways. First, if you have experienced edginess, irritability, increased startle responses, feelings of fear or avoidance, or any other trauma symptoms following something upsetting, unsafe, or disturbing, your reactions are normal in the context of your experiences, and actually make a lot of sense when we look at the impacts on the brain. Secondly, healing from trauma is absolutely possible, and you do not have to carry the weight of your experiences alone. No matter what you have experienced or how dark or scary it may be, there are therapists and other helping professionals who are glad to support you.

In the meantime, here are a few strategies for managing PTSD symptoms:

• Grounding: When something is triggering of past traumas, grounding can help to bring your brain, body, and nervous system back to the present moment. Using your five sense, identify a few things you can hear, smell, taste, touch, and see. Take a few deep breaths, and ask yourself the following questions: Where am I? What day is it? What year is it? Am I safe right now? Take a few more deep breaths and allow yourself to attune to the present moment.

• Diaphragmatic breathing: When a trauma response is triggered, the brain and nervous system are often going into “fight or flight” mode to protect against threats. Diaphragmatic breathing signals to your parasympathetic nervous system that it is okay to come out of “fight or flight",” which allows the body to calm itself, resulting in a slower heart rate, lower blood pressure, and so forth. To practice diaphragmatic breathing, place your hand on your stomach, and focus on taking long, slow deep breaths into your belly. You should be able to see your hand rising and falling. This breathing is different from more typical, shallow breathing, which occurs when you breath into your chest. The results will be much more impactful and soothing.

• Mindfulness exercises: Take a moment to notice your thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations, without judging what you are experiencing. When we acknowledge our feelings without judgment, we are able to process them more effectively.

• Meditation: Meditation can support the body and mind in entering a calmer state. For those who find guided meditations to be more effective, Calm offers guided meditations.

Disclaimer: This blog post is meant for information purposes only. Reading this blog post or carrying out tools discussed in this blog post is not a substitute for therapy or any form of mental or physical health care. Please consult a mental health professional if you are struggling with PTSD or trauma symptoms.