Before traumatisation, the amygdala is filtered by the hippocampus which is filtered by the cortex.
After traumatisation, the hippocampus is often damaged and unable to properly filter.
The amygdala warns us, in a very primitive sense, of danger thereby triggering fear and/or agression.
The hippocampus locates us in space. It specifies amygdalic fear, thereby limiting it so we are not scared of everything all the time. When the hippocampus is not working, we dissociate (in brain terms: have no orientation).
As neuroscience is discovering: to recover from a dissociative disorder means to heal the hippocampus.
There are several ways to heal the hippocampus:
1) raise serotonine
Serotonine is the feel-good neurotransmitter our body makes when we spend time in the Sun. On rainy days, it may also be found in bananas.
Serotonine enhancing substances:
- SSRI anti-depressants stop the deactivation of serotonine at the nerve synapse. They therefore increase the effective amount of serotonine gradually and over a longer period (weeks). They tend to make you fat and have unpleasant withdrawal symptoms.
- Serotinergic hallucinogens (psilocybine, ayahuasca) effectively flood the synapse with serotonine during the trip (hours) llingering for days. The flood of serotonine releases BDNF in the hippocampus, which repairs broken serotonine receptors (thereby lessening trauma-based dissociation). A serotonine trip can be metaphorically likened to the 'cleaning out of the hippocampal sewage': the more shit there's in there, the rougher the trip may sometimes be. Serotinergic hallucinogens must NEVER BE TAKEN with SSRI-MEDICATION. If taken responsibly (get accurate information first!) they are however ALWAYS a healing experience, that repairs a broken hippocampus.
- One of the best medicines still remains free: get Sunlight. next page