I just wrote this on my blog, agirlsruminations.blogspot.com, but i thought i'd post it some of it here too since i think its really interesting to someone who struggles with dissociation or PTSD, or both. The site wont let me publish the links where the info comes from, so visit my blog for that info!

1. In several studies researchers have determined that persons with Dissociative Identity Disorder have smaller hippocampuses and amygdalas.

“Hippocampal volume was 19.2% smaller and amygdalar volume was 31.6% smaller in the patients with dissociative identity disorder, compared to the healthy subjects…There are several possible explanations for the current study findings. Previous studies have shown that dissociative identity disorder patients essentially universally report high rates of exposure to repeated stressful experiences in early life. The hippocampus is a major target organ for glucocorticoids, which are released during stressful experiences. It has been hypothesized that prolonged exposure to glucocorticoids could lead to progressive atrophy of the hippocampus. Smaller hippocampal volume in dissociative identity disorder could thus be related to stress exposure and could represent a neurobiological finding that dissociative identity disorder shares with other stress-related psychiatric disorders such as PTSD.”

2. An abnormally small hippocampus is implicated in major depression and appears to be a risk factor for depression, not a consequence of it.

3. The amygdala helps process emotions and memories. A smaller amygdala is associated with anxiety. Awesome.

4. Researchers have found different patterns of brain activity between different alters in the same human brain.

“Regional cerebral blood flow data revealed different neural networks to be associated with different processing of the neutral and trauma-related memory”

“Our findings reveal the existence of different regional cerebral blood flow patterns for different senses of self.”

5. Researchers have found a significant brain pattern in persons with PTSD.

My Thoughts:

1. It is sobering to recognize how real dissociation and PTSD are. Its easy to downplay them, to confine them to therapy, and forget how much they infiltrate my entire life.

2. I can’t help but think I’m screwed! So, potentially I have a small hippocampus and amygdala. Both of which provoke depression, anxiety and hinder my ability to process emotions and memories. Potentially I have different players in my head that each have their own patterns of brain waves. I resent how real that makes dissociation seem. Plus, what is helpful about that? I mean, can someone please donate some hippocampus?

[Luce]

Thanks for this! I love, love, LOVE the scientific study of dissociative disorders. I should have been a researcher, I reckon!

My thoughts:

1. My understanding is that the different patterns observed in brain activity are related to different emotional states, in much the same way that the brain of a normal person will show different activity when they experience different emotions and thought patterns. The difference is, in a dissociative person, that any one
dissociative state will show consistency in the brain patterns whenever they are 'out', whereas in a non-dissocative person the changes in their brain waves between emotional states are more fluid. I guess my point is there aren't 'extra' people in there, but the research on brain waves does show the distinctly separated self states.

2. Don't worry - you're not screwed! You may be hippocampally and amygdalally (?!) 'challenged' but you still are capable of achieving a happy and fulfilling life. Afterall, what's life without a few extra challenges, right? :P