We all hate that feeling of forgetfulness, and sadly those of us who have experience trauma are extremely familiar with this dreadful feeling because it happens all too often. We get frustrated with ourselves because we can't remember the simplest things, which also then adds to both the anxiety and depression. It is a constant never ending circle. We also hate that numb feeling, or the feeling that you just can't think, and even the feeling of exhaustion because you feel like you are constantly triggered! But what you may not know is that all of these struggles is actually a direct link toward the trauma experienced.
The brain is a complex thing and within the brain it has different sections that does specific things, the three most affected areas after trauma is the Amygdala, Hippocampus, and Prefrontal Cortex; we are going to take a look into how these are affected by trauma.
The hippocampus is a small formation in the brain that is directly involved with storing and retrieving memories. Through many researches it has been found that traumatic stress causes the hippocampus to decrease in size which changes the ability to change short-term memory into long-term memory which in turn means that because the short-term memory isn't being changed into the long-term then the ability to recall that information is nonexistent causing the "forgetfulness" of forgetting simple information quickly such as forgetting if you fed the dog.
The Prefrontal Cortex (thinking center) is the part of your brain responsible for rational thought, problem-solving, personality, planning, awareness of ourselves/others, etc. PFC is also responsible for....wait for it....working memory aka short-term memory. When the brain has experienced trauma this part of the brain is "under-activated" meaning your ability to maintain new information and filter out irrelevant information is affected and not as productive as it would be in a non-damaged brain. The PFC also controls behavior and emotions which means when it is "under activated" it causes that withdrawal and emotional numbing.
The Amygdala is the part of the brain that analyzes and decides how we react and it is especially known fear and for being the reason we fear things outside of our control. During stress the amygdala sends out the danger signal through our brain and body, initiates flight or fight response, stores stimuli related to sight, sound, smell etc., and then produces calming thoughts after the threat is gone. However, when someone has PTSD the amygdala is excessive resulting in: anxiety, hypervigilance (extra alertness), avoidance of stimuli related to the trauma, tendency to be startled easily.
There is so much research related these topics, I highly recommend you looking into it more if you are interested or even if you just need more information. I've also included a link to a google doc. that is a research paper I had written my freshman year of college for my psychology class, if you are interested, named "Child Abuse and The Brain."
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