Lets keep it simple~ Well it is the brain so I am not sure how simple I can make this but let me try to explain~
When something traumatic happens to us, enough that we believe we might be in danger, or worse, die, our limbic system (middle part of the brain) goes nuts. Lets think about parts of the brain like army sergeants.
The first army Sergeant’s name is Amy and the second army sergeants name is Hippo. Amy is short for amygdala and hippo is short for hippocampus
Sergeant Number One : Amy ( Amygdala).
Amy (Amygdala)’s job is to direct the emotional response system in your brain. She directs the brains emotional reactions. She keeps track of all pleasant and unpleasant event that happen to us. She records our feelings about these events. She is also in charge of determining what is and is not a threat She keeps track of all body sensations like touch, sound, sight, and smell. She determines whether this information is desirable or a threat. If she determines that any sensory information is dangerous she decides which response is necessary to save your life. According to Amy she has three options, to fight for your life, to flight for your life (run like hell) or freeze ( stay still or act like your dead with the hope that the threat will get tired or confused and go away). Amy doesn’t care about thoughts or rationality. She doesn’t have time. If she does not make a decision in a millisecond you could die. She sends her orders to your nervous system and to your muscles and hormones. Sergeant Amy sometimes gets confusing messages from Sergeant Hippo and they compete with each other for leadership. In other words they get into a scrap.
Sergeant Number Two: Hippo (Hippocampus).
Sergeant Hippo has one job and that is to record facts for your memory. Sergeant Hippo’s job is to direct the facts of the incident. She deals with facts and not emotions. She is responsible for directing your brain to record time frame. She records the beginning, middle and end of the event. She directs this information to the cortex part of your brain. The cortex will then take this information and make a decision about what action to take as well as make sense of what is going on. Sergeant Hippo does not care about feelings or sensations. Sometimes Sergeant Hippo gets overwhelmed by stress hormones which over ride her commands and causes confusion. Sergeant Hippo tries to gain control but sometimes loses control which causes her to start fighting with Sergeant Amy.
The Fight
During the traumatic incident sometimes Sergeant Amy and Sergeant Hippo get into it. They fight for leadership. Stress hormones rise which cause Sergeant Amy to get really angry and punch Sergeant Hippo out. While Amy is trying to keep the fight flight freeze responses of your body in full gear, Sergeant Hippo loses the fight. Sergeant Hippo usually gets punched out and passes out while Sergeant Amy remains in charge. Now that Sergeant Hippo is no longer doing her job, the accurate time frame of events is no longer being recorded in your brain. Without a time frame, beginning, middle and end, your brain can sometimes think the trauma did not end. Sergeant Amy and Sergeant Hippo need to work together because as long as Sergeant Hippo is down for the count, what ends up happening is every time the body gets a signal that there is a threat, such as rapid heart beat, dry mouth, butterflies in stomach, or excitement, Sergeant Amy thinks that your body is experiencing a threat which causes her to send out the command to fight flight or freeze again. The problem is that sometimes you are safe when she sends out the commands. I don’t have to tell you how embarrassing this is when your friends look at you and say, Why are you overreacting ? Are you ok? Take a chill pill! Hello is there anyone home? Why do you keep spacing out? Why did you get into a fight with that guy? On top of all of this is the reality of Sergeant Hippo unable to record the facts and time frame of what actually happened. This usually looks like fuzzy memories, flashbacks ,or nightmares, It’s actually Sergeant Hippo ( Hippo-campus) trying really hard to get things back in order once she comes to from that sucker punch but unfortunately its too late and Sergeant Amy still has control.
In some cases we can call this fight for control, post traumatic stress disorder, or complex trauma but at the end of the day the label doesn’t really matter all that much. What matters is whether you are suffering from these distressing symptoms that are interfering with your quality of life.
The good news is that there are treatments ( like EMDR) that can calm the limbic system down so that you can actually help the hippocampus and amygdala start working together again. Through bilateral stimulation used in EMDR, the amygdala stays calm which permits the hippocampus to RE process the original traumatic event.
Crystal Arber CC 2015
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