THE AMYGDALA

Ron Eslinger
www.eslinger.net

The Amygdala deals with reward and fear acting as a filter for external events. Its responses are based on perceptions learned from past events. The Amygdala is protective and prone to signaling danger. You may have experienced a response from the Amygdala, when you experience a frightening event real or imagined that resulted in reflex reactions. How many of you have sat in a theater and watched a scary movie? You hold your popcorn in one hand and your drink in the other. All of a sudden somebody jumps out behind a corner on screen and your drink goes one way and you drench your friend. Your popcorn goes the other way and you sprinkle your neighbor with popcorn. The Amygdala System sees the screen and reacts. It does not realize the event is not actually happening to you. Your body responds as though you are a part of the event and as if the event were real. The Amygdala is always on guard and reacting to a perceived reality. Often this reaction is an over-reaction based on past experiences and perception. Ultimately, perception to the Amygdala is reality.

The Amygdala perceives all events as truth. It does not distinguish between a television show, a bad memory, or a real event. The little hairs on the back of your neck that stand on end as you read through the latest Stephen King book is a perfect example of the Amygdala System activating your autonomic nervous system. To the Amygdala, all events are real because it is not able to evaluate truth from perception. In a similar manner, it does not matter whether the event is positive or negative. The Amygdala System responds the same way to either type of stress.

Although the ultimate output is also controlled by the autonomic nervous system, the flight or fight process is already activated. This is the problem. In short bursts, the Amygdala System responds like a champ and our bodies handle the activation. It is only when the stress responses become constant or occur over long periods of time that these responses start causing problems within our body. If an individual is walking around under stress all of the time that person is in a constant activated state of fight or flight. A majority of their blood is circulating through the larger muscles of the arms and the legs. This robs other areas of the body of blood flow and oxygen on a regular basis. This occurs frequently in the gut and is a major underlying cause of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).