 Hey, Psych2Goers, and welcome back to another video. Before we start, we'd like to give you a huge thanks for all of the love and support that you've given us. Psych2Go's mission is to make psychology more accessible to everyone, then you help us do that. Now, let's continue. Whether you have experienced physical abuse, an unstable family, or a toxic environment, trauma has a way of shaking up our world, which may leave us with lasting pain. But unlike physical wounds that are visible, the mental effects of trauma are not always obvious. So today, we want to explore the different ways that trauma affects the brain. Amygdala. A wise man once said, it's not the size that matters, it's how you use it. And that's certainly the case for the amygdala. Despite its size, this small almond-shaped structure plays a huge role in the brain. In particular, it regulates our emotional responses, which include fear, anxiety, and sadness. And when functioning properly, it acts as the brain's alarm system. But what happens in the amygdala of someone with trauma? While in most cases of PTSD, the amygdala undergoes hyperactivity. A 2014 study published in Social Neuroscience Journal found an interesting new perspective. In this study, the researchers examined the response of 42 first-time mothers and how they reacted to the happy and sad faces of their infants. In the mothers who had unresolved trauma, their amygdala activated less than mothers who didn't suffer from trauma. They believed this to be an indication of the mother's disengagement from their infants and that it can be linked to disrupted maternal caregiving. While this doesn't mean that mothers with trauma lack care about their infants, it can mean that trauma may affect our amygdala, which can make us less responsive to others' distress. Hippocampus. A major part of our brain, the hippocampus, plays an important role in learning and memory. If it does its job well, the hippocampus helps you learn the formulas for that upcoming math test, or remember your way through a complex maze. But it turns out the trauma also has a very serious effect on the hippocampus. In February 2006, a coal mine gas explosion occurred in the Shanxi province of China, which left the surviving coal miners with PTSD. Seven years later, 24 of the 30 survivors with PTSD were recruited to undergo an FMRI, along with 25 coal miners without PTSD. The study was later published by the Public Library of Science with Striking Findings. Researchers found that the coal miners with PTSD had a smaller hippocampus than the control group. Since a smaller hippocampus is associated with Alzheimer's disease, depression, and stress, you can say that these mental disorders may be linked to trauma. Prefrontal cortex. If the amygdala is the brain's alarm system, the prefrontal cortex decides how to react to the signal sent by the amygdala. When in distress, the amygdala sends a signal of threat or stress in the environment, while the prefrontal cortex assesses the situation and tries to make it feel less scary. They work together to keep us safe and out of danger, while helping us to differentiate between real danger or a false alarm. But of course, trauma has a way of disrupting this delicate system. A 2006 paper by Dr. James Douglas Bremmer writes that patients with PTSD showed signs of smaller hippocampus, hyperactive amygdala, and decreased prefrontal cortex activity. Simply put, a brain under trauma irregularly sends distress signals, while your judgment system isn't able to tell if it's a real danger or not. This could mean that people with trauma could be under stress while having a hard time judging if the situation is actually dangerous or not. So what can we do? Trauma is a serious mental condition and should not be taken lightly. But how can we address it? An article by Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience strongly recommends that you should seek the help of trauma-focused healthcare professionals if you suspect that you're suffering from trauma. This means that the therapy should directly address memories or thoughts related to a traumatic event. These types of therapy are prolonged exposure therapy, cognitive processing therapy, and trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy. Each of these types of therapy have been shown to be effective when working with trauma patients because they deal directly with the traumatic event. With the right treatment and resources, we can overcome the negative effects of trauma to lead a happy, healthier life. So don't give up. We hope that the information provided in this video will encourage you to seek help and that you'll find the resources you need to help you recover. Here's the next chapter in our ongoing Psych2Go Stories series that we've been putting our hearts into. 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