In the face of a threat, the autonomic nervous
system responds to prepare us for fight or flight. With
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), the nervous system remains "frozen"
at the point of trauma and fails to return to a normal, balanced state.
The PTSD symptoms are an expression of this undischarged
energy.
Recent research suggests that traumatic memories are stored
in the brain differently than ordinary memories. It appears that exposure
to severe trauma overwhelms the brain so that the resulting memories are
imprinted as sensory fragments rather than an integrated, coherent
whole.
These
functions take place primarily in the region of the brain called the
amygdala, part of the limbic system which controls mood and emotions.
A person with PTSD may therefore have intrusive memories and other
strongly emotional symptoms such as nightmares and flashbacks of the
trauma.
Link
to David Baldwin's
Trauma
Information Pages
Coping after a
Tragedy
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CONTACT
INFORMATION:
Marilyn Brine Gilmour, LICSW
Email: MBG1045@verizon.net
Phone: 1 (508)
893-0914
Address: 20 Main Street, Suite
300
Natick, MA 01746
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