Table of contents:
- Effects of past trauma on one's memory
- Past trauma also increases the body's stress hormones
- How to reduce the effects of past trauma
Living with the shadow of past trauma is certainly not easy for anyone. However, this trauma cannot be sustained and needs to be healed immediately. Not only does it undermine mental health, the effects of past trauma can also increase your risk of developing chronic disease as an adult. In fact, this can also reduce your memory, you know. How could that be? Here's the explanation.
Effects of past trauma on one's memory
The brain is a vital organ that plays an important role as a coordination center for the body. In addition, the brain also functions to store millions of recordings of your life journey. Starting from pleasant events to bitter experiences that leave trauma.
During this time, you have believed that trauma in the past can disrupt your mental health. In fact, the effects of trauma aren't quite there, you know. Prolonged trauma can also weaken the nervous system throughout your body, even reducing your ability to remember things.
When you are stressed, three areas of the brain become overactive: the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex. The amygdala is an area of the brain that records your emotional experiences. Meanwhile, the hippocampus is the part of the brain where long-term memory is formed.
Take, for example, people who have had severe trauma or PTSD. According to a study published in the journal Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience in 2006, the function of the amygdala in the brain of someone with PTSD tends to increase, but the size of the hippocampus actually decreases. This finding is also corroborated by another study that found that children who have experienced violence in the past are also shown to have a smaller hippocampus size.
When a traumatic memory returns, the active amygdala will make you feel more emotional when you think back to it. For example, children who have experienced sexual violence tend to become hysterical or distant after seeing other people whose characteristics are similar to those of the perpetrator.
At the same time, the hippocampus area becomes smaller and interferes with long-term memory. If this continues, the effects of the trauma can make your memory and memory decrease. As a result, it is easy for you to forget about the things that you just went through.
Past trauma also increases the body's stress hormones
People with PTSD often complain of difficulty coping with past fears. They have difficulty controlling their own thoughts and memories. In fact, his mind is often confused because he always remembers his bad experiences.
This has to do with how the brain works when responding to the trauma we experience. Stress that occurs continuously can trigger a response to the hormone cortisol, aka the stress hormone. Well, this hormone makes you more alert to external threats.
Reporting from Very Well Mind, a study conducted on animal samples showed that high cortisol levels when stressed can damage or destroy hippocampal cells. This means that the smaller the size of the hippocampus in the brain, the more difficult it is for you to remember important things in your life.
How to reduce the effects of past trauma
It is not easy to reduce or even forget all the bitter experiences of the past. However, you still need to find ways to heal the trauma. The goal is of course so that your memory is not eroded just like that.
Staying calm is the easiest way you can do to reduce the effects of trauma. Even though it's not easy, try to take it slow.
When the trauma returns, sit in a position that is comfortable for you and breathe slowly. While closing your eyes, inhale through your nose and exhale slowly through your mouth.
Feel every positive energy enter through your fingers and let your muscles relax. Don't hesitate to ask your parents, siblings, or closest friends to help calm you down.
If this is not enough to overcome the effects of the trauma, it is time for you to go to a psychologist or therapist. You may be advised to do certain therapies to heal your trauma.
In addition, you will also be asked to solve a puzzle or do some movements to train your memory. Not only does this help divert the effects of past trauma, this method can also help strengthen your memory and memory.
