Question
How does trauma affect the brain?
Answer
When someone experiences trauma, three parts of the brain are affected: the prefrontal cortex, the amygdala, and the hippocampus.
Figure 1. Parts of the brain affected by trauma.
The prefrontal cortex helps to control the activity of the amygdala and is involved in helping people learn that previously threatening people or places are now safe. The connection between the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala is sometimes not as strong in children that have experienced trauma. As a result, the prefrontal cortex is not as active at reducing the amygdala's response to people, places, and things that are in fact, no longer predicted as dangerous. This can lead to persistent elevation in fear and anxiety from cues that remind children of the trauma that they have experienced.
The amygdala is designed to detect and react to people, places, and things in the environment that could be dangerous. This is important for safety and survival. After trauma, the amygdala can become even more attuned to potential threats in their environment, leading a child to closely monitor their surroundings, make sure that their environment is safe, and have strong reactions to new people. This heightened attention to potential threats in their environment can make it hard for children to pay attention in school, go to new places, or interact with people they don't know. They're almost always in this arousal stage where they are hyper-alert about what could possibly go wrong because their amygdala is altered by trauma.
The hippocampus is involved in learning and memory. Trauma affects the development of the hippocampus which can impair learning and memory in children, such as the ability to learn and remember information about the surrounding environment. As a result, children who have experienced trauma may not be able to retain information about how to tell if one situation is safe and another is dangerous, leading them to experience a harmless situation as dangerous.
Let's go a little bit deeper. With trauma, there are physical brain changes such as smaller brain structures, fewer brain cells, and broken connections between brain cells. It lowers emotional control as well. The brain cannot process emotions which leads to mood disorders and behavioral issues. This is why children are often not able to control their emotions. Trauma lowers learning ability, causing trouble concentrating, learning, paying attention, and lowering creativity. It also lowers behavioral control. The brain changes make it hard to control impulses and behaviors and difficult to form relationships. As you work with children and families, it is important to keep all of these effects on the brain in mind. Make sure to educate parents on these changes as well so they have a better understanding of what may be happening with their child.
