Overcoming The "reptilian Brain"

[Sandstone]

Once again, I'm thinking about the direction I want to go in with therapy, and I think there's a gap in my understanding, so this is a request for information from all you knowledgeable old hands.

One of the ideas that has been making a lot of sense recently is that in PTSD our reptilian, ancient brain area takes over whenever it perceives an emergency, and that it it primed to see relatively small things as emergencies which need handling through fight/flight/freeze. I can see retrospectively times when that happens and affects my ability to make it through a situation.

So, last week, I was at an appointment with my Psychiatrist, and my Care Co-ordinator, both of whom are lovely helpful and dependable people. There was also a trainee, who was just observing. I was desperate to escape, simply because I was "trapped" in a room with three people. I had to fight to stay in my chair and to hear why was being said. In the past I have run from exactly that situation, in that room, (though I did go back 20 minutes later). I'm assuming it was the urging from my reptilian brain that was saying " Got to run, got to hide, get away, escape". There have been other situations where I thought I was in danger and the fight response made me unproductively angry.

What I don't understand though is then how "processing trauma" fit with this brain change? Does it somehow reverse the change? Or are these two totally separate concepts that don't meet up at all?

 

[scout86]

The way my therapist describes it, there are ways of reprocessing the traumatic memories to "convert" them to "normal" memories. They will still be BAD memories (at least most of the time), but they will be processed like any other memory and won't trigger the whole "fight/flight/freeze" deal.

Sometimes this is easier said than done, and there are many variables. Good luck on your journey! (And, I can definitely relate to the feeling of being trapped in a room with "people". LOL)

 

[franciemarnie]

Are you asking if the brain remains injured (assuming it becomes organically injured over time from continual flooding without release of stress hormones stemming from trauma) even after processing of trauma and release of trauma energy and permanent re-filing of memory fragments into the "past events" filing drawer?

I haven't seen a definitive specific response to this anywhere in my reading, but I imagine anything is possible.

I haven't had flashbacks in years, but the adrenalin run, etc. remains in place - though not as fiercely.

 

[Sandstone]

Are you asking if the brain remains injured (assuming it becomes organically injured over time from continual flooding without release of stress hormones stemming from trauma) even after processing of trauma and release of trauma energy and permanent re-filing of memory fragments into the "past events" filing drawer?

Yes,I suppose at its simplest that is what I'm asking. I'm trying to put together the jigsaw of what happens to our physical and mental systems and how (much) that can be reversed. My aim is to provide motivation for myself to push on with therapy, and to push my current therapist to allow me to talk more about my traumas. At the moment it sounds to me as if I'm just being told to control myself, and feel bad but not react to that. I'd prefer to stop feeling so bad.

they will be processed like any other memory and won't trigger the whole "fight/flight/freeze" deal.

I still don't really have the hang of triggers. I know there are many things that evoke a strong response in me, and they are associated with specific traumatic occasions. But I've never had a flashback.

 

[franciemarnie]

Could I recommend two reads?

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: What Happens in the Brain - authors Howard and Crandall. It's an abstract you can Google.

And Waking the Tiger by Peter Levine re healing thru release of trauma energy in somatic therapy. He also wrote another great one: In an Unspoken Voice.

 

[Hashi]

I'm assuming it was the urging from my reptilian brain that was saying " Got to run, got to hide, get away, escape".

I would consider this a bit more. The reptilian brain doesn't go through thought these kinds of thoughts processes or ideas. It doesn't urge or say things. It does, and nothing else can get a look in.

As an example that isn't to do with my PTSD - city dweller that I am, on a trip to the country I once walked with a companion into a field that had a bull in it. We didn't realise until we were half way across the field and noticed a bull taking steps towards us, shaking it's horns a lot and pawing the ground. I absolutely didn't think, "got to run, get away, escape". In as much as I thought anything, I thought: Hedge in front, that much distance, that much time. Hedge behind, that much distance, that much time. Hedge to the right, that much distance, that much time. Hedge to the left, bull in between, no.

If you're thinking, "got to run" then this is something other than fight or flight. Never once, faced with the bull, was I aware of thinking "got to run" or how much I wanted to escape. Never was there the possibility of making a choice that wasn't the number one instinctive choice for my survival. In fact, no choice at all. Everything from that point forward was completely involuntary. I had as much thinking and as much choice as someone has over jerking their leg when their knee is tapped - none.

I would suggest that wanting to run but staying in a chair feeling trapped, is anxiety/panic rather than the reptilian brain.

I see this as good news, by the way. If you found yourself four streets away with no idea what happened, that might be the reptilian brain. But having any kind of awareness and control gives you something to work with.

 

[WillyKat]

Interesting you should ask that. I just read an article today on this:

Infant Mental Health Journal, Vol. 16, No. 4, Winter 1995
Childhood Trauma, the Neurobiology of Adaptation, and
"Use-dependent" Development of the Brain:
How "States" Become "Traits"
BRUCE D. PERRY, et al.

It's very technical and academic and another poster above suggested something more approachable.

But here's a quote I'd like to share:

"Because the brain changes in a use-dependent fashion and organizes during development in response to experience, the specific pattern of neuronal activation associated with the acute responses to trauma are those which are likely to be internalized. The specific symptoms and traits that develop following trauma are related to the individual's pattern of response present in the acute situation. If, in the midst of a traumatic experience, the child dissociates, and stays in a dissociative state for a long period of time (e.g., by re-exposure to evocative stimuli), the child will internalize a sensitized neurobiology related to dissociation, predisposing to the development of dissociative disorders...."

So in a nutshell, if we're traumatized when young, our response pattern can freeze, meaning we'll keep responding to stuff in the same way even as adults. Therapy can help us cope.

 

[NarcSis]

In my understanding of it the "reptilian brain" or as I know it, the brain stem is responsible for base biologic functions of the body, things we do not consciously control like heart rate, respiration, temperature, etc. There is controversy over the question of where "instinct" arises because instinct implies decisions taking place below the level of a conscious threshold, since our brains are constantly processing incoming information, it can be difficult to argue what is conscious and what isn't.

That being said, the amygdala, part of the limbic system and not part of the brain stem, is responsible for our emotional experiences. Fight or Flight are emotionally dominated experiences and due to the complex interconnectivity of the amygdala to other structures of the brain, like the hypothalamus which deals with memory storage and is itself indirectly linked to the adrenal medulla and pituitary gland, we can have hormone influenced biological responses to stress and emotion.

Ideally the intensity of the external stressor is supposed to be directly proportionate to the internally mounted response, because the system is designed to maintain the safety of the organism - in PTSD the physical/emotional response is not often proportionate to the stressor.

At least, this is my extremely simplified understanding of our cranial biology. (If I've gone wrong somewhere, please let me know.) All in all, I'd like to send my "vehicle" back to the dealership please, there's a malfunction somewhere. :)

 

[franciemarnie]

@Medic72 - Yes, we need our vehicles or little limbics to go to rehab.

There is some commercial out now for a drug rehab in Malibu that looks so perfect I should get back on drugs just for the experience. I can just see my little limbic brain there now getting massages and acupuncture, working out with a trainer, getting hugs by the ocean and sitting in the infinity pool. We would have compassionate one on ones where I would tell it that though it tries to do the right thing by me, it acts consistently inappropriate to reality. And so on.

 

[scout86]

We would have compassionate one on ones where I would tell it that though it tries to do the right thing by me, it acts consistently inappropriate to reality

Actually, my therapist seems to be suggesting doing something very much like that. The point, as I understand it (and I'm often WRONG!) is that by engaging the rational part of my brain, I have a chance to derail the runaway limbic system. (He likes to refer to "that rational part of your brain that you'd like to THINK is running the show....." His point usually being "you're not actually USING it right now!" LOL)

So, when someone does something stupid and my instant reaction it to kill them, I'm to notice that, consider where that feeling is coming from, and pick a different approach. Thereby making life less complicated. At least that's the plan. (For the record, I'm pretty well trained. My first reaction might be violence, but I almost never follow through on it. Still, I think the "thought" counts.)

 

[WillyKat]

Here's the link to the article I spoke of: http://www.adoptionsupport.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Module-5-Handout-5.3.pdf

 

[Survivor2Thriver]

I'm not necessarily sure it's about overcoming our reptilian brain as much as it's listening and understanding what it's trying to tell us. My T suggests therapy to rewire. I'm not sure I want to rewire what that saved me.