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Neurology of PTSD
What happens to the brain in the event of a significant life-threatening event?
Most Vietnam vets and others reading this may already be familiar with terms and principals. However, there is much they may not be aware of.
The limbic system is responsible for several critical neurological functions, the most critical of all is the regulation of emotions. This system of interconnected structures includes the hippocampus, mammilliary bodies, amygdala, fornix cingulate cortex and septum.
Recent research strongly suggests these anatomical, chemical, neurological and behavioural changes are heritable.
It is well understood that the left thalamus processes incoming emotional information that is destined for specific processing locations in the left hemisphere and the right thalamus does the same for the contralateral hemisphere. The brain can then determine whether stimuli or events are potentially life-threatening & initiate the stress response.
In PTSD, the repeated, prolonged flood of steroid hormones from recurring images & emotions, causes the respective input channels to fuse into one combined input channel feeding both thalami's with identical information.
Therefore the some of the information that should be processed by the LH is sent to the RH & vice versa. This causes confusion. The brain cannot decide whether the stimuli represents a threat or not, & choses the default option – threat.
And it may be a heritable survival trait…
©Copyright 2008 Ken O’Brien
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Latest page update: made by Combat_Ken
, Apr 30 2008, 1:37 AM EDT
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