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What are trauma reactions?
SAID ALOUD
What are trauma reactions?
Aim. To explain and understand how people react in traumatic situations.
Trainer. Human beings( and animals) developed very early on an alarm system that assisted them to survive. These basic physical responses to danger occur below consciousness and are controlled by an ancient part of the brain called the amygdala. They enable the body to react to danger before you have even started to think about what is happening. They can respond in as little as 1 / 100 of a second.
PART II: THE TRAINING
These physical responses, that we can also call survival strategies, are:
• Fight.
• Flight.
• Freeze.
•‘ Playing dead’/ submission. [ The Trainer posts the drawing below on the board.] Do you recognise these responses or have you seen them in others?
The‘ New Brain’( explicit memory – consciousness)
Normal processing The snake’ s image is processed: it is consciously observed and we consider whether it is dangerous.
Impulse / stimulus For example, the sight of something frightening, such as a snake.
The‘ Old Brain’(‘ reptile-brain’ / reflexes, basic survival)
The‘ Mid-Brain’( implicit memory) The amygdala detects threats and separates important threats from non important ones( which are processed normally). The hippocampus places memories in their correct context( in time and space).
Catastrophic events happen so fast that, in order to survive, experiences are not processed in the‘ new brain’ but the‘ midbrain’( the‘ emotional brain’), and afterwards may be inaccessible to consciousness. They nevertheless control the body( generating flashbacks, for example). The snake’ s image causes the amygdala to trigger immediate physical responses – fear, freeze or flight – well before the‘ new brain’ can process the stimulus or we consciously‘ see’ the snake.