The ways PTSD affects your brain can leave you feeling out of control, but there is hope
Image Credit: Ant Rozetsky, Unsplash
Post-traumatic stress disorder impacts 10 percent of women, and 4 percent of men, each year. PTSD affects your brain in the areas responsible for managing threats and regulating emotions, and it can leave you feeling helpless and out of control.
Many people associate PTSD with soldiers and veterans. While that group does have an increased risk for the disorder due to repeated exposure to high-conflict situations and battles, anyone who has experienced trauma can develop the disorder.
What Is PTSD?
This disorder can develop after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event, or following years of repeated trauma.
The key symptoms of PTSD include:
Startling easily
Intrusive thoughts that can interfere with sleep and daily life
Flashbacks or nightmares about the event(s)
Avoidance of people and triggering situations
Negative self-talk and recurring negative thoughts
Irritability and poor concentration
Angry outbursts
Self-destructive, reckless behavior
Feelings of shame, guilt, and fear
The American Psychiatric Association describes it this way:
“People with PTSD have intense, disturbing thoughts and feelings related to their experience that last long after the traumatic event has ended. They may relive the event through flashbacks or nightmares; they may feel sadness, fear or anger; and they may feel detached or estranged from other people. People with PTSD may avoid situations or people that remind them of the traumatic event, and they may have strong negative reactions to something as ordinary as a loud noise or an accidental touch.”
Your physician or therapist will diagnose PTSD if your symptoms last more than a month.
It’s important to note that symptoms sometimes appear months or years after a traumatic event. As a result, you might not associate your current state of mind with a past trauma, and many people have suppressed their traumatic memories.
How PTSD Affects Your Brain
At a fundamental level, the human brain is designed to take in sensory information, learn and store memories that aid in our survival. Along the way, our brains help us experience joy, love, spiritual awakening and a host of other positive emotions.
Unfortunately, trauma can trigger a heightened threat response that rewires our brains temporarily. It impacts these areas of the brain:
Hippocampus. The hippocampus region stores memories, records new memories and helps you distinguish present events from past ones. In PTSD patients, this region shows a dramatically reduced volume. This change results in a diminished ability to appropriately evaluate and react to current events, especially if any small trigger reminds you of past trauma.
Amygdala. The amygdala is responsible for the initial processing of emotions and for the fear response. This area shows more activity in PTSD patients than in average people. People with PTSD show a hyperactive fear or stress response to even mild stimuli whether it’s directly related to a personal traumatic event or not.
Prefrontal Cortex. The prefrontal cortex receives emotional information from the amygdala and acts to regulate your response to those emotions. PTSD reduces the volume of the prefrontal cortex and diminishes your ability to appropriately react to emotional stimuli, especially fear.
These brain changes can leave you feeling more negative than positive emotions. When that happens, life can feel overwhelming and even frightening. However, with therapeutic interventions, you can regain a greater sense of balance in your brain, your emotions and your daily life.
Victims of Sexual Assault at Higher Risk
As mentioned above, people of any gender, age or background can develop PTSD, but some factors can increase your risk. Men and women who have experienced sexual assault have a much higher PTSD risk than many other groups.
According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs:
“Most early information on trauma and PTSD came from studies of male veterans, mostly Vietnam veterans. Researchers began to study the effects of sexual assault and found that women's reactions were similar to male combat veterans. Women's experiences of trauma can also cause PTSD.”
Statistics from the PTSD Alliance show that rape victims have a 49 percent higher risk factor for developing the disorder. Victims of other types of sexual assault have a 24 percent higher risk.
To put those numbers in perspective, people who have experienced a natural disaster have a 4 percent increased risk, and those who have witnessed someone being killed or seriously injured have a 7 percent increased risk.
If you are a sexual assault survivor, odds are you will face PTSD at some point in your life. Seeking a diagnosis and appropriate therapy can help you address the debilitating symptoms caused by your trauma.
Remember that there is hope and help is available. You do not need to feel trapped or stuck, and your trauma does not define you as a person.
Alternative Therapies and PTSD
In my practice, I use an applied kinesiology methodology called Splankna. In short, it is a Christian-based mind-body intervention that incorporates several techniques, including Thought Field Therapy, Neuro-Emotional Technique, Emotional Freedom Technique, and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). Splankna takes the idea of mind-body practices one step further, as it also addresses the individual’s spiritual needs.
In the context of PTSD, especially as it relates to sexual assault, Splankna and other mind-body therapies offer individuals a method for addressing trauma in a holistic manner. These therapies can serve as a complement to cognitive therapy and medical interventions, such as antidepressants. In addition, these approaches are less invasive and often more accessible and comfortable for trauma victims.
Studies in veterans have shown alternative treatments to be effective in addressing PTSD symptoms. According to this MedicalXpress article:
“Study author Robin Cushing is an Army physician assistant who teaches yoga in military and veteran communities. ‘We reviewed 15 pieces of literature on the effects of mind-body interventions for veterans with PTSD,’ said Cushing. ‘Our findings show that, for the majority of participants, their PTSD symptoms improved.’”
Another article focuses on several techniques, including EMDR and EFT, that have shown to have promising results in trauma victims. Some studies show that EMDR can improve or eliminate post-traumatic stress in up to 90 percent of patients. In a controlled trial study of veterans with PTSD, 85 percent showed marked improvement in symptoms after undergoing EFT sessions.
I will discuss these approaches in further detail in future blogs. If you suspect that you suffer from PTSD, or if you display a number of the symptoms listed above, talk to your doctor or licensed counselor about which treatment options best meet your needs. In many cases, your doctor or mental health provider will recommend additional treatment, including alternative therapies, that can complement your overall treatment plant.
To learn more about Splankna and my approach to treating individuals who have experienced trauma, contact me today. If you are interested in learning more about future trauma support groups in the Denver area, please contact me.