You know that your body adapts based on what happens to it. If you put in serious time in the gym, you get stronger. If you expose your skin to an allergen, you might get a rash. The world around you has an impact on the way your body functions.
That also applies to your brain. Scientists call this neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity is your brain’s ability to change the way it works — and even its structure — in response to stimuli. Basically, neuroplasticity is how your brain adapts.
This has implications for the way we respond to trauma. Traumatic experiences can change our brains in negative ways. But the reverse is also true. Because of neuroplasticity, we can heal from trauma in our pasts.
Understanding neuroplasticity
Neuroplasticity allows you to learn new things. From memorizing things during your school years to figuring out how to navigate a new city you move to as an adult, this capability of your brain enables you to continually take in, process, and retain new information.
That rewiring as you learn new things isn’t just metaphorical. Your brain physically changes as it creates new connections in its synapses. In fact, it is constantly doing this as move, evolve, and adapt to any of life’s unpredictable circumstances. Neuroplasticity provides us with the flexibility we ultimately need in order to survive.
Neuroplasticity drives your brain’s ability to heal. It makes it possible to regain skills you lose after an injury or an illness. If you get into a car accident and lose your ability to walk, for example, neuroplasticity helps your brain relearn putting one foot in front of the other while keeping you upright. If you have a stroke and can’t talk afterward, neuroplasticity makes it possible to regain your speech.
Similarly, our brain’s ability to change and adapt plays a big role in healing trauma, particularly childhood trauma.
Applying neuroplasticity to childhood trauma recovery
As our brains develop as children, they’re particularly changeable. That means that trauma can have a profound impact on the way the brain functions. But it also means that in the same way you can heal from a scraped knee falling off your tricycle, the brain can heal from the experiences that trained it to think the world is threatening.
You can rewire your brain, and this, in turn, changes your nervous system. This has major implications for people dealing with some of the most challenging mind-body connections, like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or panic attacks.
Neuroplasticity does peak in childhood. That means it’s worth addressing any trauma you carry as soon as possible.
That said, it never stops. As one 2018 study summarized, “Thanks to tremendous advances in medical imaging techniques for assessment of brain structure and function, mounting evidence for lifelong brain plasticity has been generated over the past years.”
In other words, you don’t need to get discouraged if you’ve lived with heavy memories of your trauma for years or even decades. The brain stays plastic (i.e., able to change), and you can take steps now to rewire it to build a healthier, happier life for yourself. Neuroplasticity gives us the power to change the messages within the stories that trauma establishes in order to lead us to more fulfilling lives — ones where we aren’t held back by the fear that trauma ascribes within us. This is most effective with the support from a mental health professional. If you’re still carrying past trauma in a way that negatively affects you, a therapist can help you tap into your neuroplasticity and move forward. To get started with someone who has training in a trauma-informed approach to therapy, contact us at the Ventura Counseling & Wellness Center in Ventura or the West Valley Counseling Center in Tarzana.
