How your brain functions when you go from calm via alert and alarm to fear and terror
Posted by jpluimers on 2025/01/20
Boy was I surprised how bad a human brain functions when getting more stressful:
Figure 6
STATE DEPENDENT FUNCTIONING“STATE” CALM ALERT ALARM FEAR TERROR DOMINANT
BRAIN AREASCortex
(DMN)Cortex
(Limbic)Limbic
(Diencephalon)Diencephalon
(Brainstem)Brainstem ADAPTIVE “Option”
ArousalReflect
(create)Flock
(hypervigilance)Freeze
(resistance)Flight
(defiance)Fight ADAPTIVE “Option”
DissociationReflect
(daydream)Avoid Comply Dissociate
(paralysis/catatonia)Faint
(collapse)COGNITION Abstract
(creative)Concrete
(routine)Emotional Reactive Reflexive FUNCTIONAL IQ 120-100 110-90 100-80 90-70 80-60
I got the table from a Tweet by Andrea Walraven-Thissen (see below).
Only after putting it through OCR, I found out it is from the book titled “What Happened To You?” by Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Bruce Perry while searching for [Wayback/Archive] “Figure 6” “STATE DEPENDENT FUNCTIONING” – Recherche Google immediately returning this great book review (that goes in depth about trauma and recovering from it): [Wayback/Archive] #2: What Happened To You? by Oprah Winfrey and Dr Bruce Perry – Book Summary and Key Takeaways.
Recommended reading!
Via:
- me writing a long Dutch thread about fear, rationale and nuclear risks shortly after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine started:
[Wayback/Archive] Jeroen Wiert Pluimers on Twitter: “Even een tweet van @Walrathis in de herhaling: … Er zijn nu veel mensen angstig. Dat verlaagt het mentaal functioneren. Daardoor functioneren ze minder goed. Voorbereiding daarop helpt, juist door te informeren en dingen concreet en bespreekbaar te maken.” (threaded at [Wayback/Archive] Thread by @jpluimers on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App)
- Andrea when Mark Rutte announced yet another Covid-19 lockdown in December 2021 for The Netherlands:
[Wayback/Archive] Andrea on Twitter: “De MinPres praat snel en ademt nog sneller. Hij kan zo helemaal niet luisteren. Dat is in een acute fase binnen een marathonramp onverantwoord. Begeleid deze mensen nou eindelijk eens fatsoenlijk voordat de volgende minister omkiept of er in nood straks verkeerde besluiten vallen”
--jeroen
The Wiert Corner - irregular stream of stuff 
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