TRAUMA

Many of the frequently asked questions are answered on this page. For additional information contact ACT.

What is Trauma?
Any on-going moderately high state of anxiety causing the intellectual brain to switch off and the emotional brain and the limbic system to switch on as a way of protecting the psyche from short-circuiting is trauma. For more in-depth information go to the Trauma Center.

What are typical symptoms that suggest someone is suffering from trauma?
The symptoms seen are typically irritability that can't easily be explained. A belief that no matter what the person does will have no effect. It can be a sense of hopelessness, a despair that the world is a very dangerous place and the uselessness of trying. It can be manifested by fatigue because people can have a level of hyper vigilance or obsessive thinking that they're not talking about going over the trauma repeatedly wearing down their emotional and immune system. Other symptoms include lack of focus and increase in physical illness and the manifestation of new behaviors in the way of substance abuse, domestic violence or dysfunctional relationships.

How does the brain process a traumatic event?
During a period of high anxiety the brain will store information in the limbic system and emotional brain as images, feelings, colors, textures, sounds, tastes that are not made readily available to the intellectual brain. When the whole system is restored to normal functioning, the intellectual brain may have no knowledge of what is stored in the emotional brain or limbic system. People remember physical body experiences but have no intellectual memory of the event. In other words the brain prevents the intellect from short-circuiting.