Trauma And Memory

Traumatic events often threaten the effectiveness of the brain’s ability to function correctly in everyday life. Events of the sort can become harmful to the brain, which, in turn, negatively affects the body. Trauma can be defined as a deeply distressing, upsetting, or disturbing experience (Collins English Dictionary). At least 70 percent of Americans have suffered through a traumatic event in their lifetime, although, around only 20 percent of them have developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), in which a person suffers in response to a traumatic event for a prolonged period (“Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Fact Sheet”). This paper will address the longevity of these effects on the brain as well as the effects on the physical well-being of the body and seeking to which aspect proves to be more harmful overall.

Van Der Kolk parallels his experience of having five different stories to the memory of a trauma by explaining “but what is so extraordinary about trauma, is that these images or sounds or physical sensations don’t change over time. So people who have been molested as kids continue to see the wallpaper of the room in which they were molested. Or when they examine all these priest-abused victims, they keep seeing the silhouette of the priest standing in the door of the bathroom and stuff like that. So it’s these images, these sounds, that don’t get changed. So it’s normal to change” (Tippett, 2014). While I have heard of flashbulb memories, in which someone can have a memory that seems so clear, I never knew how clear trauma can be recognized as well. Dr. Van Der Kolk explains in this quote how easy it is for a child to continue to be traumatized by the little reminders because they have such an accurate account of the memory. He then prefaces that it is healthy to change in this sense so people can heal in trauma. I thought this was interesting because although I had some idea that trauma would leave triggers, I had never received an explanation as to

Traumatic events also produce profound and lasting changes in physiological arousal, emotion, cognition, and memory. Moreover, traumatic events may result in the severance of these normally integrated functions from one another. Traumatized individuals may also suffer from the memories of the tragic or horrifying experiences they have undergone. Frequently, as a result of these many symptoms, it becomes inevitable for the individual to develop certain complications associated with trauma-related disorders, such as posttraumatic stress disorder.

The victim speaks about how much her life has changed since the incident. She speaks about "sleeping with the lights on", showing the fact that she is still scared a year and a half later. The "long and invasive" rape exams effected the victim not only mentally but also physically. The psychological damage inflicted on rape victims is long lasting. The victim uses words like

A child who is under the age of puberty is lacking the chemicals in the brain to see the whole picture and make decisions so the wounds that happen in childhood, a time during which the child does not have the capacity to understand, trigger responses not based on the whole picture of the event just happened, it is based on the adrenaline of the events and the relationship of the current event to previous events and trauma stored in the brain. Once a child is traumatized, the child will be more vulnerable to perceiving future events as trauma. In the bible Paul says, “We are not to cast down arguments or strongholds and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bring every thought into captivity and to the obedience

Post-traumatic amnesia is confusion or memory loss that occurs immediately following a traumatic brain injury. The person that was injured is usually disoriented and is unable to remember the events that occur after the injury like their name, where they are, and the time. They may experience retrograde amnesia (loss of memories that were formed before the injury) and retrograde amnesia (problems with creating new memories). They may regain their memory. When they experience anterograde amnesia they memories are never regained because they were not encoded completely. Memories from just before the trauma are often gone forever, due to repression, also because the memories may be incompletely encoded, if the injury interrupts the encoding

One scary night, Jennifer was going through an event where her body was taken by force in the book, “Picking Cotton”. Would you be able to pick out a face from a line up? The biggest issue is putting together the puzzle pieces of the crime that took place when you’re the one who is experiencing the traumatic event. We all have been scared before but, if you really think about it do you really see the small details or the big picture? The law enforcement works hard to make sure common mistakes don’t take place during these investigations and assure we don’t send away the wrong person away for the crime. After, attending a seminar at Somerset Community College on February 7, 2017, we can now understand a little more about memory and how’s it’s processed during a traumatic event while also, learning about Jennifer’s story.

Researchers, J. Douglas Bremner, Katherine Krause Shobe and John K. Kihlstrom establish in their study on the repressed mind of victims that the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that women of childhood sexual abuse exhibited poorer memory for words that had been recently studied and increased insertions of alternative words other than critical lures (Bremner, Shobe, Kihlstrom, 2000). Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) according to the Mayo Clinic, "Is a mental health condition that 's triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event" (Mayo, 2016).

Damage done from trauma on the neurological functioning of the brain can be widespread, but can be found to interfere with functioning of the hippocampus and the limbic system to a greater extent. Randall (2011) explained that when a large amount of stress is continually placed on the brain from ongoing trauma, cortisol, a fight or flight response chemical, can fail to stop firing when the stressor that ignited the cortisol is no longer present. This excess of cortisol impairs the brains ability to function properly (Randall, 2011). Andersen, Tomada, Vincow, Valente, Polcari, Teicher (2008) found that women who had experienced sexual abuse during childhood actually had a difference in the volume of their hippocampus (as cited in Pechtel and Pizzagalli, 2011). The region which controls memory and emotional regulation was found to be smaller in the women who had been sexually abused in early childhood in comparison to

Further biological research on the effect of psychological trauma on the neurochemistry of memory may help clinicians distinguish between true repressed memories and false memories in clients who report abuse. However, to date there is no method to determine the accuracy of these memories. Therefore clinicians and the

Throughout the course of this semester we have examined numerous issues which have all had different implications for the brain = behavior argument. Some who have been skeptical of the validity of this idea have been swayed by observations that processes and behaviors they originally thought to have a cloudy neurobiological basis in fact have a sound biological and physiological underpinning. One such phenomenon which can help elucidate the ongoing brain = behavior debate is Post-Traumatic Stress disorder, or PTSD. Most people are familiar in some sense with the phenomenon of PTSD. This phenomenon has been renamed, reworked, and redefined numerous times over the past

Do you think an experience can be so traumatizing that the brain pushes it into an inaccessible corner of the unconscious to later recall it years later? This concept on the mind is expressed as repressed memories. These are types of memories that are blocked unconsciously due to the high levels of stress experienced during the event. This theory on memories are based on the idea that even though the memory is repressed it is still affecting the individual in their conscious aspects of life. Repressed memories are often associated with childhood sexual abuse. This relies on the idea that these memories of sexual abuse can be brought up either in therapy or by the victim themselves years after the abuse. The concept of repressed memories has been a huge controversy in psychology from the beginning of time. Many people believe that repressed memories in regards to childhood sexual abuse are possible while others believe they can’t be as accurate as some people believe.

If we had an option to wipe out our memory, would we choose to forget about the events that involved actual or threatened death, serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of ourselves or others? For soldiers, it may be losing a close comrade in a war. For me or any other ordinary individuals, they may be natural or human-made disasters, violent personal attack, torture or even sexually abuse(Parekh). The truth is, we don’t want to be reminded of any of these terrible events that took away a small portion of our lives.

The brain is very good at warning us, sensitively reacting to abnormal noise and smells, or enemies. The brain also can realize that what was thought as a danger is not actually threat. However, sometimes this process failed, and this may cause post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). New research has found some parts of the brain which delete bad memories. This finding may be a help to treat anxiety disorders.

Helen evidently has PTSD from the rape she experienced over twenty years ago. Since the topic of the trauma itself has been avoided most of her life, it has been easy for her to repress the memories which have been lying dormant in her unconscious mind. Revisiting the place of the rape triggered memories, emotions, and thoughts associated with the traumatic event which caused her to experience symptoms of PTSD. Her PTSD symptoms are a reaction to a situational variable demonstrated by her unconscious defenses as her memories came back into her conscious mind. Strean (2000)