I hear a lot of times that we forget traumatic experiences or block them but how exactly does that happen?

The human brain is fascinating. It is so much more complicated then i fear we may ever release it. So, i wanted to know how the brain actually blocks out "bad memories". Not just how in a general idea but what actually causes this chemically. Is this just a wild self defense mech? What I found is that theres actually a lot of components to this. For instance, cortisol which is our bodies stress hormone as a very large role. In trauma responses, cortisol is produced which disrupts the hippocampus which can cause fragmented or for memories to not be stored at all. Cortisol binds to glucocorticoid receptors (GRs) during stress, which is okay but in excessive amounts this can cause suppression of neurogenesis and can impair long-term potentiation. Not only that but trauma can cause Glutamate levels to spike which can also be harmful for memory creation and can damage neurons. This is probably the most interesting fact i learned is that the brain can actually release natural opioids into the body which can help with pain and also block memory encoding.

One of the other cool facts i learned about, in researching this topic, is that MDA is being researched in order to relive memories of trauma in order to change the emotion associated with that memory. This can help with a lot of symptoms associated with PTSD and even anxiety.

sources

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  A Multi-Site Phase 3 Study of MDMA-Assisted Therapy for PTSD (MAPP1) – Multidisc...

  Website | , 2023 | https://maps.org/mdma/ptsd/mapp1/ (opens in a new tab)

• Stress effects on the hippocampus: a critical review - PMC

  Website | Program in Neuroscience, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-1525, USA et al., | https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4561403/?... (opens in a new tab)

• Glucocorticoid regulation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor: relevance to hip...

  Website | Suri D;Vaidya VA;, 2013 | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22967840/