Going through this, I was thinking of permanent, irreversible changes to the brain. Not 'wiring/logic' changes that can and do change on a regular basis. Not sure if that makes sense to you, but are you talking about temporal changes or permanent changes? I am having a hard time imagining an emotional trauma making a permanent, physical change. It would be fascinating to see that mapped out.
Can't believe i got schizophrenia after 4 years of successful kickboxing experience !
- Thread starter Pedro sanchez
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I don't know about physical changes. I do know that looking back now that I'm getting treatment, the arc of my life changed permanently and not in a good way the moment I experienced the trauma I'm getting treatment for now. I would have been a very different person but for that. I am far from the Lone Ranger on this - it's just that now I understand it.
So, I don't know if you're familiar with the term "epigenetics". Basically, it refers to chemical processes that more or less turn genes on and off. I think the process is called methylating. We have some genes that aren't active, until they are methylated. Then they are active. There are environmental factors that can cause this process to happen with certain genes. The chemical processes that happen in response to trauma are certainly among those. And, as far as my memory serves, methylation isn't something that just wears off - there has to be a counter-process that "de-methylates" (removes the methyl group from the DNA). There are some processes in the body that can do that, but it is often durable.
And this can be passed to the next generation. For a pregnant woman, the epigenetic process can affect the fetus, and I think methylation can also change what traits are passed along in the gamete (what's "active" in the gamete's DNA), though that's the part I'm not sure I remember correctly.
Here's a bit on methylation: The Role of Methylation in Gene Expression
Yeah, some ptsd can do this, and it's not actually all that uncommon in mental or physical illnesses. For PTSD, the hippocampus quite literally can shrink. Not just sending less info or being less active, the organ actually loses volume.
Trauma can also trigger schizophrenia in people susceptible to it. And just ask the people in this thread who have it - once you have schizophrenia, there's no going back.
