Home » Business » Navy Psychiatrist Believes PTSD Brain Can Heal

Navy Psychiatrist Believes PTSD Brain Can Heal

brain 2Sedona AZ (May 11, 2013) – If you ask random strangers, “What is the most important organ in the human body?” many people would say the heart and lungs, but most probably would say the brain. The brain’s role is central in our lives, but it is often overlooked or taken for granted – that is, until it is impacted by illness or injury.

Like any other organ, it is important to understand underlying problems in the brain in order to effectively treat it. This is particularly true with post-traumatic stress disorder.

You need to know the science.

There are three brain structures that play a key role in the science behind PTSD: the amygdala, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.

The amygdala is the stress evaluator. It continuously monitors all situations for danger and decides when to react. The sights, sounds and smells of frightening and dangerous memories are stored there. When the brain recognizes similar situations, the amygdala sends out danger signals and gets the body ready for a flight or fight response.

The hippocampus stores and retrieves memories — everything from where you attended second grade to where you parked your car three hours ago. If your brain is a computer, the hippocampus is the hard drive.

The prefrontal cortex is the large part of the brain sitting right behind your forehead. This is the executive-functioning area responsible for rational thought and decision making. In the computer analogy, this is the central processing unit running the programs.

In the moment of a traumatic experience, the hippocampus frantically tries to cope and calm the amygdala alarm circuit. In some cases, the hippocampus is not able to calm the amygdala, resulting in damage to the hippocampus region of the brain, which lessens the ability of the amygdala to produce calming thoughts.

With PTSD, the nerve circuits connecting the amygdala, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex aren’t working correctly. The hippocampus can’t store the memory, and the prefrontal cortex can’t override the hippocampus to tell the amygdala to calm down when there is no danger.

PTSD is a cluster of symptoms that occur for at least a month. When someone has PTSD, they persistently re-experience the traumatic event through recurring thoughts, nightmares and flashbacks because the hippocampus is not storing memories correctly. They also persistently avoid stimuli associated with the trauma, such as connected thoughts, feelings or places because the amygdala is essentially yelling, “danger!” Additionally, a patient with PTSD will have persistent increased arousal that may cause hypervigilance, irritability, difficulty sleeping or an exaggerated tendency to be startled.

As difficult as PTSD can be, the good news is that when people seek help, they can get better. The brain, like other organs, can heal. It’s a matter of working with the amygdala, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex to make the traumatic memories safe.

Increased awareness of the science behind PTSD can help reduce the barriers to care and increase the number of service members, veterans and their families who are willing to get the help they need to recover.

This SedonaEye.com article written by Navy Capt. Paul S. Hammer, M.D.. Captain Hammer is a psychiatrist and director of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury. Visit the U.S. Defense Department website for more articles on PTSD and brain injuries.
For the best free Arizona News and Views? Subscribe to www.SedonaEye.com today.

For the best free Arizona News and Views? Subscribe to www.SedonaEye.com today.

Leave a Reply

Copyright © 2008-2017 · Sedona Eye · All Rights Reserved · Posts · Comments · Facebook · Twitter ·