END NOTES chp 21 TRAUMA

Add this to chapter 21

“By increasing the amount of stimulation a value center needs to become activated, the brain can directly decrease its sensitivity to the environment.  Later on, modifications in the appraisal system can decrease or increase sensitivity….Recent experience primes the mind for context-specific change in sensitivity.  (siegel/tdm/248)

“Repeated patterns of intense emotional experiences may engrain chronic alterations in the degree of sensitivity.  For example, overwhelming terror, especially early in life, may permanently alter the sensitivity of an individual to a particular stimulus related to the trauma….Furthermore, early trauma may be associated with an increase in release of stress hormones in response to daily life experiences.  Early alteration of the circuits of the brain involved in evaluative processes can deeply influence the appraisal mechanisms that directly influence the nature of emotional experience and emotion regulation.  [For me, it’s basically PEOPLE!]   (siegel/tdm/248)”  (this is copied from chapter 50 REGULATION and is also copied into study this 7)

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“This patient’s amygdala was probably exquisitely sensitized to the sight of a dog….a preconscious feedback loop involving the perceptual system and the amygdala would have allowed for the flight-flight response to be initiated even before he became aware that he had seen a dog.  These functional circuits have been evolutionarily helpful to us as human beings:  Once we are hurt, our amygdalas will do everything they can to keep us from allowing it to happen again. (siegel/tdm/249)”  (copied FROM chapter 50 regulation and to STUDY THIS)

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“Repeated patterns of intense emotional experiences may engrain chronic alterations in the degree of sensitivity.  For example, overwhelming terror, especially early in life, may permanently alter the sensitivity of an individual to a particular stimulus related to the trauma….Furthermore, early trauma may be associated with an increase in release of stress hormones in response to daily life experiences.  Early alteration of the circuits of the brain involved in evaluative processes can deeply influence the appraisal mechanisms that directly influence the nature of emotional experience and emotion regulation.  (siegel/tdm/248)”  [this is copied from chapter 50 regulation into end notes chapter 21 trauma and into study this 7]

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“Windows of tolerance may also be directly influenced by experiential history.  If children have been frightened repeatedly in their early history, fear may become associated with a sense of dread or terror that is disorganizing to their systems.  Repeated senses of being out of control – experiencing emotions without a sense of others (siegel/tdm/255) helping them to calm them down – can lead such persons to be unable to soothe themselves as they develop.  This lack of self-soothing can lead directly to a narrow window of tolerance.  When such a person breaks through that window, the result is a very disorganizing, “out-of-control” sensation, which in itself creates a further state of distress. (siegel/tdm/256)”

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