The Effects of PTSD on the Brain

How PTSD Changes the Brain

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is primarily considered a psychological disorder and that leads many to the unfortunate misconception that for sufferers, it's "all in their head." In a manner of speaking, that's true: it is all in their head, but not in the way naysayers or ignorant people think. In fact, exposure to a traumatic event actually changes the chemicals in an individual’s brain. These chemicals regulate things like mood, impulsivity, contentment, happiness, fight-or-flight responses, and much, much more.

Here is a quick guide to the neurological effects of PTSD:

1.       The brain starts over producing cortisol. This is one of the most powerful stress hormones that the brain releases; it comes from the hypothalamus, a region of the brain that controls the autonomic nervous system and other functions, like thirst, hunger, sleep, and emotional responses. An excess of cortisol can slow the body's ability to heal itself, interfere with sleep, slow down the sex drive, and cause constant anxiety.

2.       The brain's "fight or flight" system goes haywire. In folks with regularly functioning brains, the "fight or flight" system is fairly well regulated. Upon seeing something potentially dangerous, the amygdala gears up to start our instinctual "fight or flight" reaction, and it does this all the time in response to any perceived danger or threat. In most people, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex then goes to work rationalizing the situation, and the hippocampus provides context, which, if the situation doesn't turn out to be dangerous, ends up overriding the panic response and just gives us a little "thrill." However, PTSD disrupts the balance of these areas of the brain, giving the amygdala free reign to respond with "fight or flight" reactions to slight or perceived, threats. This is likely at the heart of signature PTSD symptoms like night terrors and "shutting down" in the face of normal, everyday stressors.

3.       The hippocampus doesn't work as well as it should. The hippocampus is the part of the brain that provides context for a situation in the "fight or flight" response by regulating memory. However, PTSD affects the operation of the hippocampus, causing memory loss or difficulty retrieving memories in appropriate situations. The science isn't conclusive on how this works; however, chronic sufferers of PTSD definitely have smaller hypothalamuses, but researchers aren't sure why. It's possible that the overproduction of cortisol actually shrinks the hypothalamus, thus affecting memory creation and access over time, or it could be that people with genetically smaller hypothalamuses are more prone to PTSD than others.

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