How Trauma Changes the Brain
- theymatter4
- Jul 1, 2025
- 2 min read
A team led by Dr. Benjamin Suarez‑Jimenez at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience (University of Rochester) has uncovered how traumatic experiences can reshape the brain’s wiring, affecting how people perceive safety and respond to threats.
The Brain’s “Salience Network” Gets Rewired
The salience network helps the brain focus on what matters — safety, danger, or reward.
After trauma, this network becomes over-sensitive to threats, even when situations are actually safe.
Resilience: The Brain’s Backup Plan
People who experienced trauma but didn’t develop PTSD, depression, or anxiety showed an interesting change — their executive control network (the part that regulates decision-making and self-control) became more active.
This suggests that the brain can re-route its connection pathways to maintain function, a possible sign of resilience.
Emotion Makes a Difference in PTSD
In people with PTSD, the brain struggled more when emotions were involved.
For example, during a test where circles triggered mild electric shocks, those with PTSD couldn’t tell safe from dangerous circles when emotion was in play.
Scans showed reduced communication between:
Hippocampus (memory/emotion) & salience network
Amygdala (fear center) & default mode network (resting brain activity)
In short: emotion overload disrupts their ability to distinguish threats.
Why This Matters for Treatment
Mapping these brain changes helps doctors understand what’s really happening inside someone with PTSD.
Not only do we see what’s broken, but we also see how the resilient brain compensates — revealing new treatment pathways
What’s Next?
The team is now using virtual reality and MRI to simulate realistic environments. They want to see:
How these brain patterns play out in everyday life
Whether they’re unique to fear, or also occur with sadness, disgust, or happiness
Why It’s Important for You
Trauma doesn’t just hurt feelings—it rewires the brain, affecting everyday decisions, fear responses, and emotional well-being.
Recognizing these changes helps us empathize, reduce shame, and design better support systems.
Highlighting resilience shows that psychological healing is possible—the brain can learn new pathways to safety and control.
Final Thoughts
Dr. Suarez‑Jimenez’s work shows us that trauma is more than just memories or emotions—it physically changes brain circuits related to threat detection and control. But it also uncovers a hopeful truth: our brains are adaptable and can heal.
At AASP THEY MATTER, we honor the unseen wounds of trauma—and believe every brain has the potential to recover, grow, and thrive.
Disclaimer: The information found on AASP THEY MATTER / Action & Awareness for Suicide Prevention posts are not meant to treat, cure, diagnose or heal you or anyone else. These posts are for educational purposes only. If you are in need of medical care please consult with a qualified medical professional.
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