Why your brain creates trauma | Lisa Feldman Barrett | Summary and Q&A

TL;DR

Traumatic experiences can be metabolically expensive and can lead to persistent predictions in the brain, but it is possible to change those predictions through various treatments and experiences.

Key Insights

• 🧠 Traumatic experiences are metabolically expensive and have a significant impact on the brain's predictions.
• 🤝 The brain's predictions aim to prepare the body to deal with threats and avoid missing them.
• 💋 Treatments for trauma focus on changing the brain's predictions rather than "removing marks" from the body.
• 💃 Various methods like yoga, psychedelics, and dance therapy can help in altering predictions.
• 🙈 The brain can be seen as a scientist, constantly forming hypotheses and testing them.
• 💁 Uncertainty about traumatic experiences can contribute to heightened arousal and the need for more information.
• 🧠 Everything we experience, including trauma, is constructed and experienced in the brain.

Transcript

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Questions & Answers

Q: Why are adverse experiences and trauma metabolically expensive?

Adverse experiences and trauma are metabolically expensive because they activate stress responses in the body, leading to increased energy expenditure and potential negative health effects.

Q: How does the brain's predictions affect the re-experiencing of traumatic events?

The brain's predictions heavily weigh traumatic experiences, which results in the repeated re-experiencing of the events, strengthening the connections and making future predictions more likely.

Q: What is the purpose of the brain's predictions in relation to trauma?

The brain's predictions aim to avoid missing threats, which leads to the construction of a model of the world as a threatening place and constant preparation of the body to deal with potential threats.

Q: Can traumatic predictions be changed?

Yes, traumatic predictions can be changed through various methods such as yoga, psychedelics, dance therapy, and theater. These treatments help in altering predictions and creating new experiences to make the brain more flexible in predicting differently in the future.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Traumatic experiences are metabolically expensive and heavily influence the brain's predictions, leading to repeated re-experiencing of the trauma.

• The brain creates predictions to avoid missing threats and constantly prepares the body to deal with them, resulting in the perception of the world as a threatening place.

• Treatments for trauma focus on altering the brain's predictions rather than removing marks from the body, and methods such as yoga, psychedelics, dance therapy, and theater can help in changing predictions.