In a study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, researchers found that sexual abuse changes the brain’s somatosensory cortex, the area of the brain responsible for creating sensations and perceptions from input from the body.
There is also research that suggests that sexual trauma can impact the brain’s ability to recognize and feel sensations. Stress hormones from the sympathetic nervous system kill cells in the hippocampus, weakening its ability to consolidate memories and recognize that the traumatic experience occurred in the past and is no longer a threat. The Hippocampus – Opposite from the amygdala, the hippocampus actually becomes less active after a traumatic experience.It associates your traumatic experience with specific emotions and falsely identifies seemingly harmless situations or individuals as threats. The Amygdala – After trauma from sexual abuse, the amygdala, an almond-shaped mass deep within the brain, becomes overstimulated.The brain also undergoes changes in two key parts of the brain: the amygdala and the hippocampus: In cases of traumatic sexual abuse, though, the sympathetic nervous system continues to release stress hormones, fatiguing the body and mind. In less extreme circumstances after a stressful or threatening situation, the parasympathetic nervous system takes over to reduce stress hormones and bring your brain back into equilibrium. These changes start with the continued activation of the sympathetic nervous system. During sexual assault, your mind and body are in survival mode, trying to get through the event and process later.īut it’s the “after” part where your brain undergoes biological changes similar to that of a combat fighter or first responder struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
How Does the Brain Change from Sexual Trauma?ĭuring the traumatic experience, your sympathetic nervous system releases stress hormones throughout your brain, preparing to fight, flee or freeze. You’re strong enough to heal and not let the trauma define you. This is all due to the way the trauma you experienced changed your brain.īut this doesn’t have to be your story.
Your attacker took away your sense of safety, your self-worth and your ability to create and maintain healthy relationships. It’s painful, menacing and heartbreaking. And rape isn’t just committed by complete strangers in many cases, the victim knows their attacker. Rape isn’t about what the victim was wearing at the time or how they were behaving sexual assault is always about power and control. Rape doesn’t always occur in a dark, cold alley it can happen in bedrooms, at a party or in a deserted conference room in an office building. Football is an inherently violent sport and perhaps always will be so, but with more research into CTE, as well as more study and development into safer helmets, we'll at least be more educated and aware when we see players knocking helmets around on Sunday afternoon.Sexual assault is much more than the stereotypical scenarios depicted in movies or on TV.
#I THINK MY BRAIN JUST COMMITTED PRO#
Researchers can continue to make progress in studying what a lifetime of hits to the head - each around 20 g's of force, on average - can do to elite football players, often revered in their playing days yet forgotten upon retirement, when the lasting neurological effects finally start to show their presence.īut this is where we are with pro football, in an era where players are preemptively donating their brains to science, like former Chicago Bears quarterback (and Duerson teammate) Jim McMahon. More recently, CTE has been connected to athletes ranging from 21-year-old college football stars to baseball great Lou Gehrig.Īnd while it's true that are any number of complicated reasons why Duerson took his own life - it has been reported that he recently filed for bankruptcy - Duerson wanted to be sure that some good came from his death. Last April, after years of denials and side-stepping on the effects of concussions on football players, the NFL finally ponied up $1 million to the center in the hopes of accelerating research into a condition that was long associated with punch-drunk ex-boxers. More specifically, that would be the team headed by Chris Nowinski, co-director of the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at Boston University's School of Medicine. In fact, when police arrived at Duerson's apartment, they found a hand-written note: "PLEASE, SEE THAT MY BRAIN IS GIVEN TO THE NFL’S BRAIN BANK."
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