Brad Schipke explains that PTSD changes brain structure but isn't permanent damage. Trauma enlarges the amygdala and shrinks the hippocampus, but brain imaging shows both can return to normal size when trauma is fully processed. The brain stays plastic throughout life.
Is PTSD brain damage? The answer is no, it is not brain damage, but it does change your brain. Trauma does change your brain. There are parts of your brain like the amygdala that controls the fight or flight response. That part gets bigger. Your amygdala gets bigger. Hippocampus shrinks. So your fear levels are heightened. That correlates with the amygdala growing. But the most important thing is that your brain can change back. There are actual brain studies, brain scans that have proven that after you fully process trauma, those parts of your brain— so For example, the amygdala that grew actually shrinks, and hippocampus that shrunk actually grows when you actually go in and you process the trauma. So that's the most important thing. A lot of people get caught up on saying that my brain has changed and it's changed forever, and that's just not the case. Your brain changes over your lifetime. Just you learning new things right now, your brain is changing right now, and there's actual studies and evidence to prove that your brain can change back to what it was before the trauma.
