Pbs Series: The Secret Life Of The Brain

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder can do a range of things to the brain. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder makes the victim continuously remember the event. It was originally known as “shell shock” where vets were struggling going through daily life. Finally after the Vietnam War Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder was “identified and given its name.” When these discoveries were made, proper treatment was then given to the victims. Research shows that

The brain is the most complicated part of the human body. I will begin explaining certain parts and their

Those diagnosed with PTSD have shown a reduction in the volume of the hippocampus. The hippocampus helps humans remember new memories and then be able to recall them later, and also helps identify between past and present memories. The amygdala is another section of the brain affected by PTSD, and the amygdala is responsible for processing emotions and fear. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex is shown to have a decreased size in cases. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex regulates negative emotions like stress, anxiety, and fear. The strange behaviours of the patients diagnosed with PTSD can be explained by the damage to the brain. “Researchers believe that the brain changes caused by PTSD increase the tendency of a person developing other psychotic and mood disorders” (brainblogger.com). The brain is like a machine made up of small parts, and if one of these parts break, the machine does not function

The brain is the most complex thing on earth. Even the brain of a baby which weighs less than one pound is extremely complicated. When we are a baby our brain is a universe of meaning; it is where the emotions, memories, ideas, and dreams evolve and change over the lifetime. Baby Elizabeth who was born three months before she was expected was a healthy premature baby but her brain was not fully prepared. Most premature babies survive but nearly half have difficulty paying attention, learning, planning, and even prioritizing as they grow up. What happens with premature babies is that they are more hypertensive and easily over stimulated. Automatically when the baby comes out of the womb the brain reacts to all the stimulation and in the case

PTSD can affect people in different ways due to the circumstance they went through, for example, “a young woman gets mugged and hit over the head with a pipe. Years later, she is still afraid to go out at night by herself. She has trouble making friends and she is slow to trust people. She has gotten several warnings at work for missing days; sometimes she just can’t seem to get out of bed. A former soldier, when he finally sleeps, finds himself back on the dusty roads of Afghanistan. He awakes in a panic and struggles futilely to return to sleep. Days are hardly better. The rumble of garbage trucks shatters his nerves. Flashbacks come unexpectedly, at the whiff of certain cleaning chemicals. He is imprisoned in his own mind” (Brainline,

Cognitive development is very important throughout the stages of life. It is very important to how we function and think as individuals. In order to be successful academically and physically, we as human beings have to crawl before we can walk. So it is a step by step process that starts from prenatal development.

Our most vivid memories are those tied with strong emotional memory components. For those suffering from Post-Traumatic-Stress Disorder (PTSD), the emotional component of a memory makes recalling certain life events painful and debilitating. PTSD is an anxiety disorder that develops from the exposure to a traumatic event and often seen in comorbid patients also afflicted with alcoholism, depression, and general anxiety. Because this disorder is so debilitating, finding prevention treatments becomes essential to ensuring the mental health of so many individuals world-wide.

People who experience PTSD experience “a whole-body tragedy, an integral human event of enormous proportions with massive repercussions.” (Banitt). PTSD is a common mental disorder that over 7.8 percent of Americans will experience (NDVA). Traumatic stress, such as war, sexual abuse or assault, gang violence, etc. can cause PTSD. There are a few known ways that can help treat and prevent this disorder, but more research can help develop these methods, or new methods.

The brain is very complex and allows us to do different things. The part of the brain known as the

When you are born your brain is in taking all the different sounds and figures around you. Your brain was developing before you even arrived in the world that you are now aware of. After conception your brain starts to grow at a rapid rate; neural tubes

Technological advances in the past decade have allowed scientists to study the brain in ways that have led to new understanding about how young children develop. There is a new understanding of both the capabilities and the vulnerabilities of infants and young children and that understanding is has influenced the work of caregivers and teachers. During pregnancy, the basic architecture of the brain is formed. Although, certain experiences do influence the developing brain during pregnancy, such as maternal health and stress, intake of drugs and/or alcohol, and quality of maternal nutrition.

The amygdala is known to learn from exposure to fear and store assessment of threat–related stimuli. The prefrontal cortex is involved in extinction and the retention of fear and is connected to the amygdala. Finally, the hippocampus encodes the context during fear learning process and sends it to the amygdala. People with PTSD have hyper-activity in the amygdala, while having hypo-activity in the prefrontal cortex and there is reduction of the hippocampus volume. This reduction may limit proper evaluation and categorization of the experience. A study on Vietnam soldiers revealed that lesions in the amygdala and prefrontal cortex resulted in the absence of PTSD. To get further into the molecular level studies been done on the hormonal system. “Stress is known to contribute to the pathogenesis of a variety of disorders, including the majority of psychiatric like major depression and posttraumatic stress disorder.” (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3825244/pdf/DM30-02-343616.pdf). Research has revealed evidence that a hormonal system known as the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is the one that gets disrupted in people with PTSD. The hormonal system is involved in normal stress reactions, so the disruption of this system in people with PTSD creates this “false alarm”. It has been suggested by some scientist that the dysfunction of the HPA system results in hippocampal damage in people with PTSD. Damage in the hormones is caused by damage to

The brain is a very critical part of the human anatomy. It’s our control system. The brain controls

Advancing age is commonly associated with loss of memory. The inability to maintain both short term and long term memory is serious. Learning new things or remembering familiar words and names can be quite daunting.

During the first two years the brain is the most flexible and prepared to learn. At this time everything is new. Everything an infant does build brain connections. According to EDUCARER.org "Touch, talking and things an infant sees and smells all build connections if done with continuity in a loving, consistent, and