Trauma and memory loss often go hand in hand. Whether you’re struggling to remember the night of a terrifying event or dealing with the loss of someone you love, trauma can affect how your brain processes and retrieves information. Sometimes, these memories just seem incomplete. Other times, you may remember specific details out of the blue, which often leads to PTSD and anxiety. Understanding trauma is one of the first steps in regaining control and improving your overall well-being. This article provides details on the brain’s response to trauma and how it can affect your memory.
How Trauma Alters Memory Processing
Almost everyone has been through some traumatic event during their lifetime. These events can cause conditions such as PTSD and memory problems. Approximately 20% of all individuals with these disorders experience some degree of memory loss.
When you experience a traumatic event, your brain’s amygdala overreacts and the hippocampus becomes less active. This imbalance can make it extremely difficult to put memories back into their correct sequence or to remember details at all. Trauma also suppresses the activity of the prefrontal cortex, which makes it difficult to tell the difference between past and present events.
The Role of Stress Hormones in Memory Formation
Cortisol and adrenaline are stress hormones. Together, they determine how we react to trauma. When we’re upset or stressed, our body releases high levels of cortisol and adrenaline, which can increase your heart rate, raise your blood pressure and prepare you for fight-or-flight mode.
Too much cortisol can prevent the hippocampus from forming or processing events, eventually leading to memory loss. When we go through long periods of stress, those hormones can also change the structure of the brain, further affecting the way we process and store memories.
Types of Memory Affected by Trauma: Implicit and Explicit Memory
Trauma can impact implicit and explicit memories, including the various types of memory in each of these categories.
Implicit Memory
Implicit memories are stored whether we’re thinking about them or not — for example, the details you remember about your childhood room or places you visited with your family on vacation. Implicit memories can also involve skills and habits you’ve learned, such as how to hold a pencil or jump rope.
Procedural memories are implicit memories that help us recall how we perform tasks, such as riding a bike. Trauma can affect these memories, making it harder to do things that once felt routine.
Explicit Memory
Explicit memories are conscious memories, such as remembering someone’s birthdate or a personal experience like your first day of school or attending your first concert. Types of explicit memories include:
- Semantic memory. Semantic memories are general facts you’ve learned throughout your life. These memories are sometimes referred to as general knowledge. Trauma can make it challenging to remember common ideas and well-known information, such as the capital city of your state.
- Episodic memory. Episodic memories are those of everyday events, such as where you went to high school or where you had your first kiss. These memories can be distorted or incomplete due to traumatic events.
- Emotional memory. Emotional memories are those triggered by an event that caused us to react expressively, such as when a beloved pet passed. Trauma can make these memories more intense, resulting in flashbacks.
Healing Trauma and Memory Loss: Treatment and Coping Strategies
Healing from trauma-related memory loss often requires several treatment approaches and the development of coping strategies.
Therapy
One of the best ways to address trauma-based memory loss is scheduling an appointment with a therapist. Inpatient or outpatient treatment is also a good choice if you have multiple diagnoses.
- Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT). TF-CBT is a type of talk therapy for individuals who’ve been through shocking or traumatic events. TF-CBT can help you process emotional events and learn how to express emotions in a healthy manner.
- Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). EMDR uses lights and sound to desensitize you to a past traumatic event. Typically, you must go through multiple sessions for treatment to be effective.
- Neurofeedback therapy. Neurofeedback is a type of biofeedback used to retrain the brain function to regulate emotions and cognitive processing.
- Medications. Medications, such as antidepressants and antianxiety medications, may be prescribed to help regulate the brain’s response to stress and trauma.
Lifestyle Changes
Healthy life choices can help support mental recovery and improve your overall well-being.
- Exercise. The average healthy adult should get between 75 and 150 minutes of vigorous exercise per week for optimal health. Physical activity can reduce stress, improve brain function and help with memory recovery.
- Nutrition. A well-balanced diet rich in vitamins and minerals supports brain function and can help improve memory. Limit your intake of sugar and processed red meats.
- Sleep. For better health, the average adult should get between 7 and 9 hours of sleep every night. Adults who sleep less than 7 hours a night tend to have more health problems than those who get more. If you’re struggling with sleep, it’s a good idea to talk to your doctor.
Coping Strategies
During stressful times in your life, it’s important to develop effective coping strategies to reduce anxiety and other mental health issues. Coping strategies also make it easier to reduce the effects of trauma on memory.
- Journaling. Daily journal writing can help you process your emotions, organize your thoughts and remember important events.
- Support groups. Ask your doctor or counselor about local trauma support groups. Connecting with others who’ve experienced similar traumas is a way to share coping mechanisms.
- Relaxation and mindfulness techniques. Meditation and deep breathing exercises can help improve focus, manage stress and make it easier to remember past events.
Addressing the Effects of Stress on Memory
Understanding the effects trauma has on memory is one of the most important steps in getting the help you need. For more information on mental health treatment, contact our caring counselors at the Sun Health Center. We can help you explore the available treatment options.
