(Photo provided by the Military Health System)
If you ask random strangers, “What is the most important organ in the human body?” many people would say the heart and lungs, but most probably would say the brain. The brain’s role is central in our lives, but it is often overlooked or taken for granted – that is, until it is impacted by illness or injury.
Like any other organ, it is important to understand underlying problems in the brain in order to effectively treat it. This is particularly true with post-traumatic stress disorder.
You need to know the science.
There are three brain structures that play a key role in the science behind PTSD: the amygdala, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.
The amygdala is the stress evaluator.
It continuously monitors all situations for danger and decides when to react. The sights, sounds and smells of frightening and dangerous memories are stored there. When the brain recognizes similar situations, the amygdala sends out danger signals and gets the body ready for a flight or fight response.
The hippocampus stores and retrieves memories — everything from where you attended second grade to where you parked your car three hours ago. If your brain is a computer, the hippocampus is the hard drive.
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