by Laurie A. Couture, M.Ed., LCMHC
The limbic system in the human brain is responsible for keeping us safe and prepared to avoid danger or self-preserve in the face of danger. It keeps us on alert for threat cues in our environment, and it is ready to react within a fraction of a second to cause the body to fight off a threat, escape from a threat, or freeze in place. This mechanism is known as the fight-flight-or-freeze reaction, and it is triggered by a tiny organ in the center of the limbic system called the amygdala. Think of the amygdala as like a sentry in a watch tower, scanning the horizon for signs of danger. If the amygdala spies a threat, its alarm sets off a symphony of chemical reactions throughout the brain and body (via the HPA axis) to power that split-second fight-flight-or-freeze reaction. If you have ever yanked the steering wheel of your car just in time to avoid an accident, ran away from being chased, or froze your body to avoid agitating a wasp or hornet, then you have seen your limbic system in action!
Unfortunately, when children suffer a traumatic event, the amygdala becomes hypervigilant—It behaves like a sentry who jumps around and shoots at every cue that even resembles a potential threat. The traumatized amygdala becomes too powerful, even enlarging, leading to restlessness, hyperactivity, anxiety, panic, aggression, dissociation (feeling disconnected from one’s body and mind), lack of focus, and even emotional shut-downs and depression in a young person. Meanwhile, the hippocampus—a limbic system organ that is responsible for encoding memories and keeping us calm and focused—shrinks and becomes unable to keep the nervous system calm.
Moreover, the traumatic memory gets stuck in the reactionary limbic system and the reflex energy
resonance even gets trapped in the cells of the body, rather than being encoded in the pre-frontal cortex. The pre-frontal cortex (PFC) is like our brain’s life history and knowledge library. It is located at the very front of the cerebrum, at our forehead, and it is responsible for our highest levels of insight, analyzing, and thought. This is the part of the brain that does not finish developing until around 26 years of age. Without specialized treatment, a traumatic memory gets withheld and locked up in the amygdala’s “file cabinet”, with pieces scattered in the “file cabinets” of the cells, instead of being encoded in our PFC’s book of life experiences in a way that we can learn, heal, and grow from it.
Research has found that a neuro-somatic (brain-cellular) therapy called Eye Movement Desensitization and Processing, or EMDR, can help restore balance to the limbic system by helping the brain and body to process, or “digest”, traumatic memories and move them to the part of the brain that stores them properly. A way to illustrate this is that EMDR helps the limbic system to collect the traumatic memory “files” that were “scattered” throughout the limbic system and body, and hand them over to the pre-frontal cortex, which consolidates and stores the files in a way that allows the trauma to heal. This results in an improvement of behavioral and emotional symptoms that were a self-protective result of the original traumatic experience.
Laurie A. Couture, a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor in Portsmouth, New Hampshire who specializes in treating childhood developmental trauma and attachment challenges in children and youths ages toddler to age 22. She has over 25 years of experience with kids and families as a trauma specialist, a consultant, a trainer and speaker, a Massachusetts licensed mental health counselor and outreach clinician, and provider in the fields of juvenile justice, foster and adoption social work, and education.
©2023 by Laurie A. Couture, M.Ed., LCMHC