Maybe this sounds familiar. It has been months since that night, and everyone says you are doing well. Then a car pulls up a little too close behind you at your gate, and in an instant your heart is pounding, your hands are numb and you are right back there. Your body does not seem to know that it is over.
In South Africa, many of us live with this. Hijackings, house robberies, serious road accidents and violence touch a great many families. If your nervous system has stayed on guard since something like that, it is not weakness. It is what a brain does when it has had to survive.
What PTSD is
Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, can develop after you experience or witness an event that was life-threatening or deeply frightening. Feeling shaken, jumpy and tearful in the first few weeks is a normal response. PTSD is when those reactions do not ease with time and begin to shape daily life.
Common signs include:
- Flashbacks or intrusive memories that feel as if the event is happening again
- Nightmares and broken sleep
- Being constantly on the lookout, startling easily, checking locks and mirrors
- Avoiding places, people or conversations linked to what happened
- Feeling numb, cut off or unlike yourself
- Irritability, guilt or trouble concentrating
PTSD is a medical condition and it should be assessed by a doctor, psychologist or psychiatrist. There are well-established treatments, including trauma-focused therapy and sometimes medication. If what you are living with matches this list, please see a professional first.
The limbic hijack, simply explained
What follows is a simplified picture. The limbic system is often described as the emotional centre of the brain. Within it, a small structure called the amygdala is thought to act as the alarm. Next to it sits the hippocampus, which is often compared to a filing clerk, stamping memories with a time and place. At the front of the brain, the prefrontal cortex is pictured as the calm adult who looks at the situation and decides what is really going on.
During a traumatic event, the alarm takes over completely, as it should. One widely used explanation is that the memory may never get properly filed. Without its date stamp, it stays raw. A sound, a smell or a certain time of evening can then set off the alarm as though the danger is present now. The alarm seems to override the calm adult at the front of the brain before it can say, "That was then. You are safe." People sometimes call this a limbic hijack. It is a popular shorthand, not a precise scientific term.
The memory is in the past. The alarm has not been told yet.
This may be why it is so hard to think your way out of a flashback, and why well-meant advice to "put it behind you" rarely helps. The reaction is physical and automatic. We explore this further in trauma and the nervous system.
Where neurofeedback fits
Neurofeedback is a non-invasive form of brain training. Sensors on your scalp read your brain's electrical rhythms, known as brainwaves. A computer gives gentle feedback through sound or images when your brain moves towards a calmer, more settled pattern. The sensors only read. Nothing is sent into your brain.
Over time, this practice may help the nervous system lower its baseline level of alertness and come back to rest more easily after being triggered. Neurofeedback has been studied for PTSD with mixed-to-encouraging results. The aims are things like better sleep, fewer startle reactions and feeling less on edge. The research is still growing, results vary, and no outcome can be guaranteed.
The training itself does not depend on retelling what happened. For some people, talking is too much at first. Neurofeedback is not a replacement for trauma therapy, though. It works alongside the care of your doctor, psychologist or psychiatrist, and may make that work more bearable by helping your body feel steadier. If you take an antidepressant or any other medication, please do not stop or change it without the doctor who prescribed it.
If you have thoughts of harming yourself, please contact your doctor or the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) straight away.
Trauma often disturbs sleep and can lead to sudden surges of fear in public places. Our articles on chronic insomnia and panic in traffic and malls look at those more closely.
What to expect at our practice
Every client begins with a 19-channel brain map at our Krugersdorp practice, which takes about an hour and a half. A brain map is a recording of your brain's electrical activity, taken from 19 points on the scalp.
Training sessions are 45 to 60 minutes and begin with a short check-in on how you are feeling. After that, the sensors read your brain's activity while you sit. Our what to expect page describes a first visit.
Common questions
Do I have to talk about what happened?
No. Neurofeedback works with your brain's activity in the present moment, so you do not need to describe the event for the training to take place. If and when you want to work through the story itself, that is best done with a psychologist trained in trauma.
Can neurofeedback replace trauma therapy or medication?
No. PTSD is a serious condition and neurofeedback is a complementary approach that works alongside your doctor, psychologist or psychiatrist. Please keep taking prescribed medication, and discuss any change with the doctor who prescribed it. A calmer nervous system may help you get more from therapy, but results vary.
Could a session bring memories back?
The training aims to be calming, and it does not involve going over the event. It is still possible for feelings or memories to surface, during or between sessions. Each session starts with a short check-in on how you are feeling, which is the time to mention it. Please also tell your therapist or doctor if anything distressing comes up.
The event was years ago. Is it too late?
Not necessarily. The brain keeps its ability to learn and adapt throughout life, which is what brain training relies on. No particular result can be promised, but the passing of time on its own does not rule out the possibility of feeling steadier.
What happened to you was not your fault, and neither is the way your body has carried it. If you would like to talk quietly about whether neurofeedback might help your nervous system stand down a little, you are welcome to contact Irine when the time feels right.
- ptsd
- trauma
- hijack state
- flashbacks
- healing
