Part 2: Trauma and the lizard brain
When we undergo anything traumatic - whether its a "big t or little t" trauma (see the last blog post) it is something that typically evokes intense emotions. Usually there is a mix that includes fear and we can go into fight or flight or freeze mode. If you've ever jumped when someone surprised you, you know what it is like to go temporarily into fight/flight/freeze mode. With trauma, we go into fight/flight/freeze mode and can get stuck there. It can stick with us on an on-going basis, or it can blindside us when we encounter something that "triggers" the memory of the event.
This is because of our reptilian brain. As humans, we have areas of our brain responsible for "higher functions;" things like problem solving, making priorities and navigating social relationships. We also have a "reptilian brain" that is responsible for things like staying alive, and fight/flight/freeze is part of this. (If you want more info about the science of the lizard brain, click here: Lizard brain.) If we were attacked by a tiger, our human brain is too slow to be of much use; we'd spend too much time assessing the threat and making a plan. Our lizard brain immediately realizes we need to DO SOMETHING and does it. If we fight or flight (we will talk about "freeze" later) our bodies get ready for it - our palms sweat, our heart races, our breathing becomes fast and shallow, we hyper-focus on the threat, and our pupils dilate, among other responses. This is incredibly helpful when we need to run from a tiger, but not so helpful when we have an upcoming deadline. Have you ever gotten shaky and sweaty before public speaking? Lizard Brain. Lizard sees it as a threat and sends us into fight/flight/freeze. It's a primitive and central part of our brain, and the rest of our brains developed after and around the lizard brain. When we go through trauma, we can get stuck in lizard brain, with overpowering fear or overwhelm. All the "self-talk" in the world can't help if we can't get to our human brain.
The lizard brain can send us into fight or flight, but also into freeze, and it is incredibly difficult to bring the "human brain" back online. When we avoid or ignore problems, this is a form of the freeze response. When you're clinging to the edge of a ski slope, moving no more than a few inches at a time, terrified that there *might* be a cliff just over the next rollover, that's a freeze response. These responses were meant to keep us safe, once upon a time. (Due to this fear, I will likely never die from accidentally skiing off a cliff.)There's another type of freeze called "dissociation." For many people it is scary "blacking out" and not remembering the trauma. There are different types and intensities of dissociation, and everyone experiences some dissociation, some of the time. "Highway hypnosis," or driving and realizing you zoned out for the entire trip, is a mild form of dissociation. When someone goes through trauma, our minds and our bodies can kick this normal response into overdrive.
To see how this works, we will use the example of someone who was abused as a kid. That kid's brain might not have the ability to handle the abuse that is occurring, and essentially changes the channel. The kid becomes distant from or unaware of the abuse as it is happening, and thus survives it. In cases of severe and chronic abuse this can manifest later in life as Dissociative Identity Disorder, which used to be called having multiple personalities. This is a survival mechanism for that kid at the time, though later in life they may dissociate when anything threatening or scary happens, or without provocation.
This dissociative process is often why we can have a hard time remembering a traumatic event. Police investigators can get frustrated with victims of trauma who do not tell a story that makes sense. When the victim is trying to remember, it's like they wrote a story on post-it notes, then someone threw them around the room and the victim is trying to put it back together. This is frustrating for the person telling and hearing the story!
Whether our reaction is fight, flight or freeze, traumatic events can trigger us to try to survive in the best way our lizard brains know how. Traumas don't always result in having trauma responses getting stuck with us. Unfortunately, we don't know all the reasons why they sometimes do get stuck. We do know that people tend to have statistically better outcomes when the event was a natural disaster, when they don't feel personally targeted, if there were multiple people going through the same thing, and if the person has a support system to lean on as they process through the event. Resilience isn't just a personal trait, it is a function of the person's support systems.
In the next post we will talk about some of the ways people can heal from trauma. We will talk about things like working through shame (check out episode #38), learning about how to use our window of tolerance, how to repair damaged trust, meditation and yoga, among other things that I find interesting and helpful to know.
Well, I hope you found this post interesting. If you have questions, you can probably tell that I find trauma fascinating, and I would LOVE to be able to help answer your questions or engage in a good conversation about it. Just let me know!
And, as always, if you find the content of this blog post interesting, and think it would be helpful to explore deeper with a professional, you may contact us at info@summitcountytherapy.com or view the website: SummitCountyTherapy.com
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