Emotional inteligence
394/661ceruleus—alerting the body for an emergency that is notthere in reality. 10As Dr. Charles Nemeroff, a Duke University psychiatrist,told me, "Too much CRF makes you overreact. Forexample, if you're a Vietnam vet with PTSD and a carbackfires at the mall parking lot, it is the triggering ofCRF that floods you with the same feelings as in the originaltrauma: you start sweating, you're scared, youhave chills and the shakes, you may have flashbacks. Inpeople who hypersecrete CRF, the startle response isoveractive. For example, if you sneak up behind mostpeople and suddenly clap your hands, you'll see astartled jump the first time, but not by the third orfourth repetition. But people with too much CRF don'thabituate: they'll respond as much to the fourth clap asto the first." 11A third set of changes occurs in the brain's opioid system,which secretes endorphins to blunt the feeling ofpain. It also becomes hyperactive. This neural circuitagain involves the amygdala, this time in concert with aregion in the cerebral cortex. The opioids are brainchemicals that are powerful numbing agents, like opiumand other narcotics that are chemical cousins. When experiencinghigh levels of opioids ("the brain's ownmorphine"), people have a heightened tolerance forpain—an effect that has been noted by battlefield
395/661surgeons, who found severely wounded soldiers neededlower doses of narcotics to handle their pain than did civilianswith far less serious injuries.Something similar seems to occur in PTSD. 12 Endorphinchanges add a new dimension to the neural mixtriggered by reexposure to trauma: a numbing of certainfeelings. This appears to explain a set of "negative" psychologicalsymptoms long noted in PTSD: anhedonia(the inability to feel pleasure) and a general emotionalnumbness, a sense of being cut off from life or from concernabout others' feelings. Those close to such peoplemay experience this indifference as a lack of empathy.Another possible effect may be dissociation, includingthe inability to remember crucial minutes, hours, oreven days of the traumatic event.The neural changes of PTSD also seem to make a personmore susceptible to further traumatizing. A numberof studies with animals have found that when they wereexposed even to mild stress when young, they were farmore vulnerable than unstressed animals to trauma-inducedbrain changes later in life (suggesting the urgentneed to treat children with PTSD). This seems a reasonthat, exposed to the same catastrophe, one person goeson to develop PTSD and another does not: the amygdalais primed to find danger, and when life presents it onceagain with real danger, its alarm rises to a higher pitch.
- Page 344 and 345: 344/661walk again. But depressed wo
- Page 346 and 347: 346/661Like its near cousin optimis
- Page 348 and 349: 348/661comforting than the same sma
- Page 350 and 351: relationships take their own toll.
- Page 352 and 353: 352/661Perhaps the most powerful de
- Page 354 and 355: 354/661As we were leaving the exam
- Page 356 and 357: 356/661home—a progressive step th
- Page 358 and 359: 358/661effects would be to impart m
- Page 360 and 361: patients to go elsewhere for care,
- Page 362 and 363: 12The Family CrucibleIt's a low-key
- Page 364 and 365: 364/661There are hundreds of studie
- Page 366 and 367: 366/661instance, use bargaining and
- Page 368 and 369: physiological indicators of emotion
- Page 370 and 371: 370/661The difference between the t
- Page 372 and 373: 4. Self-control. The ability to mod
- Page 374 and 375: 374/661efforts to get solace will m
- Page 376 and 377: opportunity at all, let alone equal
- Page 378 and 379: learned, and how grim the costs for
- Page 380 and 381: 380/661distress of a child nearby w
- Page 382 and 383: 382/661of the brain's limbic center
- Page 384 and 385: 384/661In ensuing months, the Purdy
- Page 386 and 387: 386/661disorder, or PTSD. At the co
- Page 388 and 389: endured semistarvation, the slaught
- Page 390 and 391: 390/661overwhelming terror. 4 While
- Page 392 and 393: and dying—or for a teacher there,
- Page 396 and 397: All these neural changes offer shor
- Page 398 and 399: of calm—the amygdala never relear
- Page 400 and 401: 400/661better outcome: sometimes in
- Page 402 and 403: ex-lover. The man brought them to a
- Page 404 and 405: 404/661friends and family to form a
- Page 406 and 407: 406/661The therapist encourages the
- Page 408 and 409: 408/661Aftereffects or occasional r
- Page 410 and 411: 410/661cannot keep it from reacting
- Page 412 and 413: 412/661habits of the heart learned
- Page 414 and 415: 414/661different pattern of brain a
- Page 416 and 417: 416/661monsters. Though he has felt
- Page 418 and 419: 418/661five infants falls into the
- Page 420 and 421: 420/661These sensitive children are
- Page 422 and 423: 422/661to help her up, and as I did
- Page 424 and 425: 424/661or the other type, says Davi
- Page 426 and 427: 426/661parents, and so how they lea
- Page 428 and 429: 428/661When the encounter takes pla
- Page 430 and 431: 430/661spontaneously outgrew their
- Page 432 and 433: 432/661was reopened, the animal was
- Page 434 and 435: The remarkable finding, though, was
- Page 436 and 437: 436/661switch for distress. The inf
- Page 438 and 439: 438/661emotional habits are malleab
- Page 440 and 441: 15The Cost of Emotional IlliteracyI
- Page 442 and 443: example, heroin and cocaine use amo
395/661
surgeons, who found severely wounded soldiers needed
lower doses of narcotics to handle their pain than did civilians
with far less serious injuries.
Something similar seems to occur in PTSD. 12 Endorphin
changes add a new dimension to the neural mix
triggered by reexposure to trauma: a numbing of certain
feelings. This appears to explain a set of "negative" psychological
symptoms long noted in PTSD: anhedonia
(the inability to feel pleasure) and a general emotional
numbness, a sense of being cut off from life or from concern
about others' feelings. Those close to such people
may experience this indifference as a lack of empathy.
Another possible effect may be dissociation, including
the inability to remember crucial minutes, hours, or
even days of the traumatic event.
The neural changes of PTSD also seem to make a person
more susceptible to further traumatizing. A number
of studies with animals have found that when they were
exposed even to mild stress when young, they were far
more vulnerable than unstressed animals to trauma-induced
brain changes later in life (suggesting the urgent
need to treat children with PTSD). This seems a reason
that, exposed to the same catastrophe, one person goes
on to develop PTSD and another does not: the amygdala
is primed to find danger, and when life presents it once
again with real danger, its alarm rises to a higher pitch.
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