Brain Meanders Off the Beaten Path

I read an interesting article about PTSD from a Nursing Magazine today. (For nurses. Nothing to do with the la leche league) The article hypothesized that PTSD could stem from trauma from within the womb during the last trimester, while the brain of the baby is developing.

If I, for example, were born about three months early due to a severe beating inflicted upon my mother, I would be more prone to getting PTSD later on in life.

According to the article, PTSD may be "caused by alterations of the primary stress pathways: the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the sympathetic nerve system. Abnormalities in the storage, release, and elimination of catecholamines affecting brain function in the region of the locus coeruleus, amygdala, and hippocampus" may have resulted. "Hyperactivation in the amygdala may prevent the brain from making sense of memories, resulting in memories being stored as nightmares, flashbacks, or physical symptoms."

Basically, the research suggests that neurological disturbances in the womb or during childhood could influence the development of the disorder. The fetus' developing brain, under attack, would quickly alter itself to adjust to the stress by storing everything in different places than where it would normally go, supposedly because some of the areas where it would normally go have not even developed yet.

Therefore, under extreme stress later in life, the brain would still be storing certain things in the physical realm of the brain rather than processing them logically, because those pathways are still there, and a traumatic event could cause the brain to resort to using them again.

This theory explains how some people can come out of something like Vietnam without PTSD while others suffer excruciatingly from it.
It's only a theory, of course, but it was interesting.

And it's always nice to have some sort of logical explanation to reflect upon.

The article ends with a discussion of common triggers, diagnosis, and treatment.

Based on what it says regarding treatment, I'm doing all the right things. It suggests that my therapist and I develop a personal plan for "trigger management," part of which involves a plan of who to contact and what sorts of questions to ask myself when I have a dissociative episode.

The only good thing about my condition is that it is episodic, and therefore I can always have the hope of returning to where I started from and continuing along my chosen path.

In the end, the article states that "Education is key."

Well, I knew that. That's why I was reading the article.

The therapist has been on vacation.

I'm feeling normal again, although I am probably eating too much. That's an emotion-stuffing behavior, so I'll have to think about how I'm feeling and what I can do about it.

Meantime, I have a few sub jobs already lined up for the week of the 18th, one of them for my former English teacher. It is a strange thing to return to the neighborhoods of your childhood. I think it helps that the high school is in a brand new building. I always felt confident in my area of interest, so it seems unlikely that anything related to teaching would ever trigger anything unpleasant for me. And hopefully, by the time it ever does, I will have had the training I need to remain calm and functional.

I have miles to go before I sleep.