THE GIFT OF POST TRAUMATIC STRESS, PART ONE

Post Traumatic Stress. You can Google these three words, and you will have a zillion links for your sweet mouse to click on, all with very good and helpful information.  If you search deep enough, you will find references to Post Traumatic Stress being a gift. For example, this reference to the book, The Gift of Fear.

Wouldn't you know it?  Here I thought I was coming up with an original idea.  Nevertheless, this is my take on Post Traumatic Stress as well.  It is, indeed, our brain's gift to us as survivors of every and any kind.

Here, in Part One, I want to introduce you to your brain.  Well, actually to your brains.  We have three of them!  To appreciate the gift of Post Traumatic Stress, we want to know exactly how our three brains operate.  What follows is somewhat simplistic but very very accurate.  And if you want even further simple details with pictures included, check out Brain Facts.  It is a wonderful primer on the brain and no cost to download, compliments of the Society for Neuroscience.  The picture below is taken from Brain Facts.

OUR THREE BRAINS

Yes, we have three brains:  One devoted to thinking processes (top brain, thinking brain), one devoted to assigning emotional significance to our experiences (mid-brain, feeling brain), and one specifically for saving our ass (brain stem, survival brain).  These three brains are well-designed and intricately connected and integrated. 

So here is how it works.  At any given moment, we are taking in “information” through our sensory organs.  You know, ears, eyes, nose, tongue, and skin.  The information from the sensory organs goes directly to a place in our mid-brain called the THALAMUS.  The thalamus acts as a relay center.  It somehow decides what information to send on to our thinking and feeling brains.  The implication here is that we perceive far more than we are consciously aware, much like your digital camera takes in much more information than you realize till you examine the actual photograph.

So you snap a picture of your honey sitting across from you at your favorite restaurant on the night you celebrated your anniversary.  Weeks later, when you view the photograph, you are intrigued by something in the background.  Digital technology allows you to zoom in on the background, and there you see a man, five tables away, putting a diamond ring into his mouth!  Come on, laugh. We gotta have some humor here!

So the thalamus decides what information to send on to the thinking brain and the feeling brain.  When the feeling brain receives the information, it sends an immediate message to our muscles which we experience as a feeling or emotion.  This feeling will automatically prepare our muscles to move either toward the experience or away from the experience.  This is why emotions are often referred to as biological motivators because our emotions or feelings literally move our muscles. motivate us to move toward or away.

Simultaneously, the information is picked up by the thinking brain.  The thinking brain and the feeling brain begin a conversation neurochemically and neuroelectrically.  This conversation assists us in making a good decision about our behavior.

So, check out this example.  You pull up into a parking space, you keep the engine and air conditioning running because it is a hot day, and you know you will not be parked very long.  Suddenly, a door opens and out walks a gorgeous woman.  Not only is she gorgeous, but she is walking toward you.

So the thalamus picks up the information from your eye balls.  It sends the information to your feeling brain.  Your feeling brain sends a message to your muscles which, in turn, prepare to move toward the woman.  You feel excitement and tingling throughout your entire body. 

Simultaneously, the thinking brain gets the information, and the thinking brain and feeling brain begin a conversation.

FEELING BRAIN: Wow, I am excited.

THINKING BRAIN: Of course you are excited, she is one gorgeous woman

FEELING BRAIN: I want to jump out of the car and run toward her.

THINKING BRAIN: Of course you do.  And you know what?  I think that would be a very smart move on your part.

FEELING BRAIN: Wow!  I am just going bananas, in fact, my banana is doing some funny tricks too.

THINKING BRAIN: What the heck are you waiting for?  If you don’t get out now, she will be in the front seat before you know it.  Let her know how excited you are.  Get going, move, get out of the car, run toward her.

So here is a scene where a man is picking up his sweety from her job.  His brain works marvelously and directs him well.  The man has both feelings and thoughts about the experience, and in that dialogue between thoughts and feelings, the man comes to a decision about how to behave.  Yes, our brain works really well unless it has been tampered with.

So let’s look at another example.  There’s this macho stud muffin named Jock.  Now, Jock’s been trained from a very early age to act tough and be tough and not to show emotions, not to do anything rash!  So in Jock’s brain, there’s an extra voice, so to speak, that interferes with the dialogue between the thinking brain and the feeling brain.  Jock finds himself in the same situation described above, but the conversation will look “slightly” different.

Jock pulls up into a parking space.  He keeps the engine and air conditioning running because it is a hot day, and he knows he will not be parked very long.  Suddenly a door opens and out walks a gorgeous woman.  Not only is she gorgeous, but she is walking right toward Jock.

Just like our first example, the thalamus picks up the information from Jock’s eye balls.  It sends the information to his feeling brain.  His feeling brain sends a message to his muscles which prepare to move toward the woman.  Jock feels excitement and tingling throughout his entire body.  Simultaneously, the thinking brain gets the information, and the thinking brain and feeling brain begin a conversation.

FEELING BRAIN: Wow, I am excited.

THINKING BRAIN: Of course you are excited, she is one gorgeous woman

FEELING BRAIN: I want to jump out of the car and run toward her.

THINKING BRAIN: Of course you do.  And you know what.  I think that would be a very smart move on your part.

EXTRA VOICE: HOLD IT!  Have you forgotten who you are?  SIT!

FEELING BRAIN: Wow!  I am just going bananas, in fact, my banana is doing some funny tricks too.

THINKING BRAIN: What the heck are you waiting for?  If you don’t get out now, she will be in the front seat before you know it.  Let her know how excited you are.  Get going, move, get out of the car, run toward her.

EXTRA VOICE: DUDE, we’ve been through this before.  She’s going to think you are a pushover.  You gotta let her know you’re boss here.  SIT.  Let her open the door herself.  She’s a woman, right?  She wants to have rights, right?  So let her.  Get a grip on those emotions and feelings, Jock.  They will just get you into trouble.  In fact growl at her when she gets into the car and tell her she’s late!

      

OUCH!  So Jock’s brain has been tampered with.  In fact, it probably happens to most if not all of us.  This is not a blame game here, but something to be aware of.  So think about it.

When we are little, we know simply and clearly what we we see, smell, taste, hear, and experience.  BUT when, as a little person, we speak out loud what we experience, we are often told that we are way off base.  In fact, we are more often than not told that we are NOT seeing hearing, tasting, smelling, experiencing, what, in fact, we are experiencing.

For example, Mom says, “I’m going to put medicine on your owee, and it says right here on the bottle, it will not hurt.  So don’t be crying!”  Well, it hurts like hell, but how are you going to contradict the authority of a giant?

Or you say, “Daddy, how come you were kissing that woman?”  And Dad slaps your face and tells you, “You did not see me kissing any woman.  Now get that idea out of your head.  I don’t know where you come up with these stories.”  Well, you know damned well you saw what you saw.

“Hey, Mom, look at the fat lady,” and Mom is covering your mouth so fast and so hard, you pass out!  And then she adds insult to injury by telling you that the woman is not fat and furthermore you know she is not fat, and finally, you’re just trying to get attention.

“Dad what is that funny smell on your breath?  Is that beer?”  And Dad is on you like a fly on poop and insisting that he doesn’t drink beer.

So, the scenarios go on and on.  Again, our brain works really well if no one tampers with it.  But, our brains do get tampered with, and we all have these “extra voices” in the dialogue between the thinking brain and the feeling brain.  And by the time we are eighteen, we no longer see what see, no longer hear what hear, no longer smell what we smell, no longer feel what we feel, no longer know what we know.  So having learned about that sad state of affairs, let’s move on to take a look at our brain stem (bottom brain) or survival brain.

SURVIVAL BRAIN (BRAIN STEM)

Now, while the thinking brain and the feeling brain are carrying on their conversation, the brain stem is monitoring, in fact, constantly monitoring our entire body’s operations to be sure we are not at risk.  At risk for what?  At risk for survival.  Our survival brain is kind of like air traffic control.

So the brain stem monitors what we call our autonomic nervous system which keeps tabs on items like  heart rate, digestion, respiratory rate, salivation, perspiration, pupillary dilation, micturition (urination), and sexual arousal.  The brain stem wants to make sure that everything is in balance.  Whenever the brain stem notices something is out of balance, it goes on alert.  When we begin to approach any kind of threshold, so for example, a pain threshold, a fear threshold, a blood sugar threshold, a blood pressure threshold, the brain stem goes into action.

Now, when the brain stem does go into action, it cuts off the dialogue between the thinking brain and the feeling brain, and we go on what we call auto pilot.  It's not really auto pilot because the brain stem is running the show, but the brain stem does not have the ability to think or make decisions.  It simply moves us in a direction of survival and relies heavily upon any previous behaviors that have resulted in our saving our ass in moments of danger.  This is the way everyone's brain stem works.  And these are the critical pieces in understanding how our brain functions and the critical pieces in understanding why Post Traumatic Stress is a gift.

In Part Two, we will pick up right here and follow the Brain Stem's path to survival.

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