CHUKA KEN MINISTRY

Childhood Trauma Causes Fear-Wired Brains 

Today, I’d want to talk about childhood trauma and how it contributes to fear-wired brains. I am reflecting on a prior romantic interest while I write this piece of article. I recall her telling me about all the horrific aspects of her childhood trauma, and it left me feeling a little terrible for having had a pretty protected life. When I recall the scenario she recounted about her closest friend being slain by an accidental gunshot aiming for somebody, I still wince. She described being covered in blood and unable to move because she was terrified and disturbed. Finally, a neighbor came to her rescue and brought her to safety. Imagine your best buddy being slain in a shootout between two thugs. You are just seven years old, by the way. She also mentioned to me about being sexually molested by a family member and eventually alerting her grandma about it. Although the violence ceased, her relative’s abuse had never been reported to the authorities, and the family just ignored it. Can you picture having to face your previous adversary each day having to relive the torture even if you know it has stopped? Her mother was a sex worker and a drug user with filled to the brim AIDS, therefore she was fostered by her grandma. Her mother was into or out of the hospital, imprisonment, rehabilitation, and other institutions during our relationship, and when she attended family gatherings, she pretended to be entitled, despite being the family’s black sheep. Her actions were baffling, to say the least. She eventually died as a result of her illness. Her spirit may rest in peace. With all of the pain she is been through in her life, you’d think she’d be a damaged woman, trapped in the same self-fulfilling prophecy that ruined her mother. Fortunately, that was not her narrative, and she went on to have a wonderful life. She is now married and has a child of her own. Although her narrative had a happy conclusion, it does not mean that she was untouched by the traumatic childhood experience. She struggled with anxiety, sadness, dread, frustration, and despair, which made it difficult for her to live a rich and complete life. Mercifully, she found solace in religion, which became a source of strength and motivation for her, assisting her in the healing of her psychological and emotional pain resulting from her traumatic past. What Happens to the Brains of Children who have Experienced Childhood Trauma? Traumatic childhood events, such as those experienced by my companion, have been linked to mental health and behavioral disorders in adult life, according to research. Traumatic events affect children’s brains in unfavorable ways, which can lead to adulthood issues with aggression, fear, addiction, and even unlawful conduct. My friend, mercifully, does not suffer from rage, addiction, or criminal activities, but she still retains the emotional wounds. Psychologically stressful events change the anatomy of the brain by altering neuronal connections and activations. We must keep in mind that the human brain is a social organ that is sculpted by our past experiences and molded to cope with our surroundings. If you have been in a constant state of dread and danger since you were a youngster, your brain will wire itself to be on the alert for danger while also trying to repress these stressful sensations. As a result, the brain becomes confused, resulting in emotional problems and challenges. When you grow up and your brain is designed for maturity, memories from childhood traumatic experiences might leave you more sensitive to danger and less sensitive to happiness, making it harder to live a good life. We must keep in mind that a child’s brain is still developing and is similar to a brand new computer with no files or programs. It is more equivalent to a clean sheet of paper. This is what permits our experiences to form a child’s brain and makes it so pliable. Children only experience joy, involvement, and curiosity in a healthy setting. You will be able to study, create friendships, and gain knowledge and skills due to this. Your mind is always in a state of panic or feelings of emptiness when you exist in an unpleasant situation that produces a lot of painful events. It’s like being immersed in a Stephen King film 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. How should Teachers React? We need to understand how chronic trauma impacts the children we teach. When your mind is always terrified, it is difficult to concentrate throughout a class. It is difficult to do an assignment when you don’t know if you will be murdered by an accidental gunshot while sleeping at night. When your stomach is grumbling, it is virtually hard to respond to inquiries regarding quadratic equations. If you want to assist, do your investigation and figure out how these stressful events affect your student’s ability to acquire a good education. After you have completed that duty, do everything you can to devise tactics and interventions to assist them in regaining control. Perhaps you should introduce mindfulness or yoga to your students, or send a distressed student to a school psychologist or an independent mental health specialist. All you have to do is take the initial step in making a difference in the lives of children who have been through horrific events. Because I am not a professional on childhood trauma, please leave a comment below if you have any more insights on the subject.


During sleep the brain's reaction to sound remains strong but one critical feature of conscious attention disappears 

A new discovery from Tel Aviv University may provide a key to a great scientific enigma: How does the awake brain transform sensory input into a conscious experience? The study relied on data collected from electrodes implanted, for medical purposes, deep in the human brain. The information was utilized to examine differences between the response of the cerebral cortex to sounds in sleep vs. wakefulness, at a resolution of single neurons. The researchers were surprised to discover that the brain's response to sound remains powerful during sleep in all parameters but one: the level of alpha-beta waves associated with attention to the auditory input and related expectations. This means that during sleep, the brain analyzes the auditory input but is unable to focus on the sound or identify it, and therefore no conscious awareness ensues. The study was led by Dr. Hanna Hayat and with major contribution from Dr. Amit Marmelshtein, at the lab of Prof. Yuval Nir from the School of Medicine, the Sagol School of Neuroscience, and the Department of Biomedical Engineering, and co-supervised by Prof. Itzhak Fried from the UCLA Medical Center. Other participants included: Dr. Aaron Krom and Dr. Yaniv Sela from Prof. Nir's group, and Dr. Ido Strauss and Dr. Firas Fahoum from the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov). The paper was published in Nature Neuroscience. Prof. Nir says that "this study is unique in that it builds upon rare data from electrodes implanted deep inside the human brain, enabling high-resolution monitoring, down to the level of individual neurons, of the brain's electrical activity. For understandable reasons, electrodes cannot be implanted in the brain of living humans just for the sake of scientific research. But in this study, we were able to utilize a special medical procedure in which electrodes were implanted in the brains of epilepsy patients, monitoring activity in different parts of their brain for purposes of diagnosis and treatment. The patients volunteered to help examine the brain's response to auditory stimulation in wakefulness vs. sleep." The researchers placed speakers emitting various sounds at the patients' bedside and compared data from the implanted electrodes—neural activity and electrical waves in different areas of the brain—during wakefulness vs. various stages of sleep. Altogether, the team collected data from over 700 neurons, about 50 neurons in each patient, over the course of 8 years. Dr. Haya says that "after sounds are received in the ear, the signals are relayed from one station to the next within the brain. Until recently it was believed that during sleep these signals decay rapidly once they reach the cerebral cortex. But looking at the data from the electrodes, we were surprised to discover that the brain's response during sleep was much stronger and richer than we had expected. Moreover, this powerful response spread to many regions of the cerebral cortex. The strength of brain response during sleep was similar to the response observed during wakefulness, in all but one specific feature, where a dramatic difference was recorded: the level of activity of alpha-beta waves." The researchers explain that alpha-beta waves (10-30Hz) are linked to processes of attention and expectation that are controlled by feedback from higher regions in the brain. As signals travel "bottom-up" from the sensory organs to higher regions, a "top-down" motion also occurs: the higher regions, relying on prior information that had accumulated in the brain, act as a guide, sending down signals to instruct the sensory regions as to which input to focus on, which should be ignored, etc. Thus, for example, when a certain sound is received in the ear, the higher regions can tell whether it is new or familiar, and whether it deserves attention or not. This kind of brain activity is manifested in the suppression of alpha-beta waves, and indeed, previous studies have shown a high level of these waves in states of rest and anesthesia. According to the current study, the strength of alpha-beta waves is the main difference between the brain's response to auditory inputs in states of wakefulness vs. sleep. Prof Nir says that their "findings have wide implications beyond this specific experiment. First, they provide an important key to an ancient, fascinating enigma: What is the secret of consciousness? What is the 'X-factor', the brain activity that is unique to consciousness, allowing us to be aware of things happening around us when we are awake, and disappearing when we sleep? In this study we discovered a new lead, and in future research we intend to further explore the mechanisms responsible for this difference." "In addition, having identified a specific brain feature that is different between states of consciousness and unconsciousness, we now have a distinct quantitative measure—the first of its kind—for assessing an individual's awareness of incoming sounds. We hope that in the future, with improved techniques for measuring alpha-beta brain waves, and non-invasive monitoring methods such as EEG, it will be possible to accurately assess a person's state of consciousness in various situations: verifying that patients remain unconscious throughout a surgical procedure, monitoring the awareness of people with dementia, or determining whether an allegedly comatose individual, unable to communicate, is truly unaware of his/her surroundings. In such cases, low levels of alpha-beta waves in response to sound could suggest that a person considered unconscious may in fact perceive and understand the words being said around him. We hope that our findings will serve as a basis for developing effective new methods for measuring the level of awareness of individuals who are supposedly in various states of unconsciousness."