The Amygdala
The Decision Maker of your Emotional Brain
..AKA the tiny, little almond-like figures (there are 2) in the central part of the brain.
Tiny, but MIGHTY!
We did talk about the Amygdala in passing when we were looking at parts of the Limbic System AKA barking dog. Today, we dive deeper and have a microscopic look into the amygdala.
One of my FAVORITE areas to chat about because it’s the decision-maker of the emotional brain.
Have you ever encountered situations where your usual coping mechanisms couldn’t control your response to stress? Or had some moments that trigger negative events? Then, you feel the onset of shortness of breath, anxiety, and heart palpitations. Guess what? I have too, and frankly speaking, I was a bit disappointed in myself.
Why? Well, for one I study this stuff, and two because I am a look-on-the-bright-side kind of person, a positive vibe spreader, an overcomer. When I am down, I take a detailed look at my life to pinpoint the problem. If I feel tired, I do some yoga or meditate. And if I need to talk, I reach out to my amazing mother or friends for some R&R.
You get why the epiphany took me by surprise. I mean, I have learned how to regulate my emotions and self-soothe so how could I be out of control? I’d look at myself in the mirror and say:
We are better than this. We are funny and positive. The life force of the emotional party! Not the sad, panic attack, heart-pounding girl.
But still, the psychological reactions my body was having to these “triggers” refused to be shaken off. This still happened despite my best efforts to tell myself we are winning and we are in control. My go-to self-help strategies were losing the war against the visceral images flashing through my mind.
If you’ve been through this, you aren’t alone. There is a scientific explanation as to why you couldn’t get over it. It all boils down to the amygdala.
Lovely little thing, isn’t it?
What is the Amygdala?
It is made up of two almond-shaped nuclei situated smack in the middle of the emotional brain/central part of the brain.
I call it the “jumpy superhero” as it tries to protect you at all costs. It can mistake stress as an actual threat to the extent of preventing the PFC (prefrontal cortex) from doing its job.
But why would our fancy brains do something like that?
Well, the amygdala is responsible for our fight, flight, freeze, and fawn response.
So, during stressful moments, we get disconnected from rational thinking and shift to impulsive reactions (like fight, flight, freeze, or fawn). We lose connection with the upstairs brain functions like memory, mental flexibility, and self-regulation. So, we have a difficult time focusing, controlling impulses, remembering instructions, and making smart decisions. As a result, whenever we face strong emotions like anger or fear, the amygdala believes we are in danger and sounds the alarm.
Imagine what that might be like if you were a child who didn’t have a fully developed prefrontal cortex/thinking brain.
HELLO “problem” behaviors!
Kiddos may resort to impulsively hitting another kid. Or as parents, you might yell at your kiddos. Thanks amygdala for tricking us into believing we’re in danger.
It gets super hard to make smart decisions and speak rationally when your body is forcing you to bolt, fight, freeze, or fawn. Right?
