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The Beginner’s Guide to Understanding the Effects of Trauma on the Brain...And How Therapy Can Help

Writer's picture: Anthony Dimitrion, LCSW, CSTAnthony Dimitrion, LCSW, CST

Updated: Nov 7, 2024




Oh the brain, an organ responsible for so many processes that make our lives as human beings possible. Without it we’d be…well, zombies…just kidding! As a trauma survivor myself, I have found that my intellectual parts feel more grounded when we have a scientifically oriented explanation for various aspects of our lived experience. When I began my recovery journey, reading about the effects of trauma on the brain and nervous system helped me begin to give language to how and why I engaged in the greater world around me the way that I did. The purpose of this brief introduction is to help others begin to make sense of their experience with a greater neurobiological understanding of the effects of trauma.


A Super Simplified Version of the Brain:


Our brain is made up of several regions that together are responsible for our human functioning. For the sake of this article, we will split the brain into two segments. We have our Left & Upper Brain and our Right & Lower Brain.


The Left & Upper Brain is the thinking or logical side of the brain. It is responsible for rationalization and intellectualization. It is analytical, concrete, and detail oriented. It is also the location of our speech and language “system”. The Left & Upper Brain stores non-traumatic memories as well as healed (i.e. somatically, affectively, and cognitively processed and integrated) trauma memories.  


The Right & Lower Brain is the more primitive, “feeling and dealing” side of our brain. It is responsible for emotional awareness that aids in emotional processing. It utilizes the sensory information from the rest of our body to engage the instinctual fight, flight, freeze, fawn responses that attempt to aid in our survival when we are in danger (real or perceived). The Right & Lower Brain also houses creativity, imagination, and supports our ability to holistically integrate our experiences.


All of our experiences initially go through our Right & Lower Brain, then are further processed in the Left & Upper Brain. Think of the Right & Lower Brain as the splattering of paint on the canvas, which is then filled in with greater detail through the Left & Upper Brain to create an image that is comprehensive, coherent, and cohesive (i.e. the experience is somatically, affectively, and cognitively processed and integrated).


A Super Simplified Understanding of Trauma, the Brain, & Our Nervous System:


I will discuss the effects of trauma on the brain and nervous system through the lens of childhood trauma. While the general experience is the same for both children and adults, a child has even greater difficulty making sense of their experience without the support of a safe adult.


Let’s dive in…


When we go through an overwhelming or traumatic experience physiological (body-based) and emotional activation occurs in response. If our environment is unstable and/or we do not have a safe, compassionate, and attuned caregiver/adult to help us process the resulting emotions and make sense of the experience that occurred (i.e. integrating the Right & Lower Brain somatic and affective experience with Left & Upper Brain language, logic, and rational awareness), then the unprocessed activation gets stuck within our nervous system. As children we try our best to cope with this activation and make sense of what happened through the limited understanding and scope of our life experience. Simultaneously we have intrinsic drives for safety, survival, and connection. The conclusions we typically deduce from the traumatic experience unconsciously places these drives at the forefront leading to adaptive, yet compromising perceptions of our self, others, and the world.

 


Helpful Example:


** Trigger Warning: this example describes in some detail the neurobiological process explained above. If you are at risk of being triggered from examples of parental domestic violence, I encourage you to skip this example.


A 5-year-old child is the witness to repeated verbal and physical altercations between their mother and father (i.e. an unstable environment). Each time it occurs, the child’s heart starts to race, their muscles tense, they get flushed (i.e. physiological activation). The child is really scared, confused, and helpless over what is going on (i.e. emotional activation). The child starts crying and loudly pleading for their father to stop. When he does not listen, the child runs and hides in their room until the altercation is over (i.e. attempts to resolve activation via the fight then flight instincts). After the event, the child’s mother and father do not bring up what occurred (i.e. no safe, supportive, attuned caregiver present for child). The child then attempts to make sense of the experience they witnessed by blaming themselves for not doing enough to stop their father’s abuse. This leads to an internalization of I’m a bad child. By placing the blame on themselves, they are relinquishing any wrongdoing from their parents. This adaptive—yet very backwards—logic allows them to hold the hope that they can still rely on their parents for the safety and connection they crave—and ultimately need—to survive (i.e. I am the bad one not my daddy or my mommy. My daddy and my mommy are capable of being caring, loving, and supportive if only I was a good child who knew just what to do to keep daddy happy and keep mommy safe). As this child grows older, they learn to be hyper-attuned to their father’s body language and mood. They discover that if they tend to their father’s in-the-moment needs before he gets upset, that he doesn’t yell and mom doesn’t get hurt (i.e. dad’s happy, mom’s safe, and I’m safe because of that).

 

...End of Example.



As we grow older, the unprocessed activation remains fragmented within our brain, body, and nervous system (i.e. stays stuck), along with the limiting or shaming beliefs we deduce from the traumatic experience (i.e. reactive attempts to make sense of what occurred with safety, survival, and sustaining connection intrinsically in mind). It then influences how we cope with and navigate through the world and is reactivated when similar feelings, relational dynamics, or situations arise in the present day. This leads to a reflexive coping response similar to that from the initial traumatic experience. Unfortunately for most of us, what was once adaptive as a child to stay safe and connected is often no longer as adaptive as an adult. In fact, old coping skills can get in the way of living our life in a way that feels good, right, and secure for us today.

 

So How Can Attachment-Informed Therapy Help?


Attachment-informed therapy ultimately takes the above into consideration recognizing that it is through a safe enough, secure enough, attuned enough relationship that old wounds can safely be processed, discharged, and integrated. In therapy we work toward co-creating a safe, secure, attuned enough relationship as therapist and client while simultaneously working towards fostering a safe, secure, attuned enough relationship between the client and the client’s inner self (i.e. parts of self in Internal Family System’s language). Together as a team, the client and therapist can be that compassionate, supportive base for those young inner parts of the client who were left to carry the burden of those traumatic experiences on their own for so long. Over time in therapy, those burdened parts can begin to emotionally process and make sense of the traumatic experience that occurred in a way that feels true, right, and authentic for them. The client’s present-day adult self also has the chance to stand up for and advocate for those burdened younger parts who were left with the trauma. As inner security increased, it permeates outward, impacting how the client now navigates their everyday life and relationships with others. That right there is healing and growth!  

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