Archive for November, 2010
Overstimulation
Tuesday, November 30th, 2010Sexual abuse can also produce chronic physiological arousal due to the overwhelming impact of any kind of intense stimulation on young children. The nervous system is just not mature enough to handle so much sensory intensity, whether perceived as painful or pleasurable or both. Sexual obsessions and compulsive behaviors may […]
Multiple Personality
Friday, November 26th, 2010In extreme cases,of PTSD the isolated neural maps that hold traumatic memories develop independently of the dominant personality and manifest as separate personalities, each with its own connections to the amygdala that are activated whenever the survival of any of these autonomous personalities is threatened by the possibility of […]
Neurobiological Mechanism
Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010The neurobiological mechanism that accounts for these prolonged and self-sustaining symptoms after the original trauma has past is well supported by experimental data. Brain imaging studies correlate PTSD symptoms with 10-25% shrinkage of the hippocampus. Furthermore, people born with relatively low hippocampal volume are more likely to react to trauma […]
Neurobiological Explation of PTSD
Thursday, November 18th, 2010The mind reacts from exposure to trauma and abuse by sending signals from
the amygdala with dread while the body responds with increased muscle tension. As a result, we may experience anxiety, anger or a need to flee the situation, regardless of whether there is actual danger to us at that moment. […]
Stress Sensitization
Tuesday, November 16th, 2010Chronic abuse exposes a child to a traumatic stressor, defined as an uncontrollable threatening situation, over and over again. The child perceives
danger and at the same time stress hormones (such as epinephrine and cortisol)
are released to mobilize energy for escape or defense, but neither response is open to a small […]
The Hippocampus
Thursday, November 11th, 2010Another deep brain structure adjacent to the amygdala, the hippocampus, is the processor involved in the creation of explicit memory, meaning the conscious capability to recall and verbalize events. Information sent to the hippocampus is projected to other areas of the brain and becomes part of our past experience that […]
Psychiatrists describe PTSD as a particular form of Anxiety Disorder
Tuesday, November 9th, 2010Psychiatrists describe PTSD as a particular form of Anxiety Disorder that occurs after exposure to an extremely stressful life and death experience, such as might occur under battle conditions. “Battle fatigue,” as it used to be called, is the most well known form of PTSD, but similar reactions have been […]
PTSD
Thursday, November 4th, 2010Recent research suggests that stress hormones released during traumatic episodes intensify vividness and retention of memories of the episodes and thereby prolong automatic arousal. If autonomic overactivity becomes chronic, survival mechanisms are reset to a higher level of sensitivity that is designed to detect the danger at the earliest possible moment and escape. When there […]
Physical Effects of Abuse: PTSD
Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010It is first the child’s body that takes the brunt of physical and sexual assault.
Wounds and burns can produce permanent physical damage, but even in the absence of visible scarring there are unseen costs in the form of chronically tense and guarded musculature as well as involuntary cringing conditioned by repeated threats to the child’s […]