Part 1: Neurobiology of Trauma
The nervous system is the intersection of chiropractic and psychology
I’m taking a course called The Neurobiology of Trauma. It is based on the latest technology on how the brain works. It is taught by psychologists. I wish I had known this forty years ago. Thought I’d post some ideas that may help you or someone you know.
Trauma is defined as experience that overwhelms our capacity to cope. I find that definition quite interesting. Compare it to one definition of intelligence - the ability to adapt to new or trying situations. In chiropractic, we see life as a process of intelligence using the nervous system to adapt or cope to the environment.
All of us have probably experienced trauma in our lives. I remember my mother walking me home from kindergarten. We were down the block and across the street when it began raining. My mother had my two younger brothers, one by the hand and the other in a stroller and rain home without me. That bothered me. One night, perhaps a year later, I got out of bed and went to talk with her about it. It was perhaps our third of fourth trip home and she thought I could find it. I did. I experienced trauma. That night I handled it and never thought about it again. That was minor. It got resolved.
As I think about that, it seems like nothing compared to what so many women have gone through. I didn’t even make it out of chiropractic college before a patient told me that she was abused as a little girl. There was nobody to talk to. She didn’t get it resolved.
During my practice, two other patients come readily to mind. One patient had been raped twice. Another patient was pregnant after being raped in the restroom of a bar. Those are just two that readily come to mind. I never asked. The information was volunteered. Imagine how large the problem must be!
Think about car wrecks. I was set up blind date in college. The person I was dating had recently been in an auto wreck. I was driving and the other couple was in the back seat. It was dark and raining. I had to pull out quickly to merge with traffic. The woman had a flashback to her wreck. The wreck from months ago was affecting her that night.
While in practice, I saw a number of people who had been injured in collisions. The effect of trauma on the brain never occurred to me. The psychology wasn’t there yet.
Here is the big deal.
Trauma changes the brain. Those changes affect how we can cope in the future. It changes how we think and in some cases we can’t think. If you are experiencing these problems, the information may help explain what is happening. In future parts, I will go through the changes in the brain and what may help.