The Hippocampus

Another part of the brain that’s been implicated as important in trauma and PTSD development is the hippocampus. Roughly meaning a “sea horse” in Greek, due to its sea horse shape, the hippocampus is responsible for a number of functions including storing long term memories. The hippocampus is also responsible for processing information that is contextual and spatial. In other words it processes information that gives meaning and context to incoming data.

The hippocampus is also involved in verbal declarative memory - declarative memory is also called explicit memory and its information that deals with facts and figures. It helps in our ability to recall an incident or tell about something that happened.

So... with all those functions, is it any wonder that extreme and distressing situations heavily impact the hippocampus functionality?

Clinical studies have shown that traumatic stress does alter our memory functioning. In particular, after experiencing trauma, we seem to have difficulties in recalling all the facts. We seem to recall much more of the emotional and somatic aspects of the incident rather than the context. Additionally, what memory we do have, at time tends to be fractured and in seemingly disjointed stints.

The hippocampus is very sensitive to stress. Incredibly, the hippocampus of individuals who have experienced repeated trauma, is smaller than average while their amygdala is enlarged and more active.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) processes maladaptively stored difficult and traumatic memories, often giving them context and broadening the scope of experience so that a trauma victim is able to “see” the full picture of what they experienced. They don’t forget the experience but rather are able to feel a reduction in the emotional charge of an experience. Interestingly EMDR has been shown in promising research, to lead to significant increase in hippocampal volume.

If your hippocampus needs a bit of attention today, get in touch with us at Psychology Wise to discuss further.