FEAR DRIVEN BRAIN · Brainstem/Midbrain (anxiety, poor affect regulation, ... Constant activation...
Transcript of FEAR DRIVEN BRAIN · Brainstem/Midbrain (anxiety, poor affect regulation, ... Constant activation...
PRESENTED BY
CLAUDIA BURGER
FEAR DRIVEN BRAIN – UNABLE TO LEARN
QUESTIONS
Do educators and schools have an informed role to play in the lives of students struggling with unprocessed traumatic memories other than providing cognitive learning experiences?
Are there any alternative strategies than a generation ago?
What do you know about the brain, early childhood development and trauma?
WHO ARE WE AS HUMAN BEINGS?
Human beings are at our core RELATIONAL CREATURES
We are designed to live, work, play and work in GROUPS
RELATIONSHIPS are the absolute heart of humanity and we are neurobiologically designed to be in relationships
You learn language, social language, appropriate emotional regulation and essentially everything that is important about life as a human being in context of RELATIONSHIPS
THE HUMAN BRAIN
HUMAN BRAIN
HUMAN BRAIN
HUMAN BRAIN
LIMBIC SYSTEM
NEOCORTEX
BRAIN DEVELOPMENT
Brain is an upside down pyramid
Bottom – developing first
Brain stem and mid brain -
Limbic System
Largest and part of brain last to develop, are the CORTICAL functions which include our frontal lobes and parts of the brain that control executive functions such as reasoning, planning, anticipating and predicting. Also language, abstract and concrete thoughts
Normal development – healthy brain – proportioned 2 to 1
BRAIN DEVELOPMENT
Cortical and Limbic systems should be twice as big as the combined Midbrain and Brainstem systems
This proportion of brain development allows the Limbic and Cortical functions (higher reasoning skills) to modulate, control and balance the Brainstem and Midbrain functions (reactive and reflective functions)
When we ask children - think before you act, we are asking them to use one part of their brain to help them access and control what another part of the brain wants to do out of instinct
WHAT IS TRAUMA?
Is it an event/happening?
Is it an individual’s response to an event?
Is it a diagnostic category?
TRAUMA
One word that best captures the experience of trauma is TERROR
One defines the experience of terror as feeling totally unsafe and powerless to do anything about one’s situation
An exceptional experience in which the powerful and dangerous events overwhelm a person’s capacity to cope
Trauma is a wound which needs to heal – not a disorder. So instead of “what is wrong with you” we ask “what happened to you?”
TRAUMA AND THE BRAIN
TRAUMA AND THE BRAIN
When children experience trauma, the Brainstem/Midbrain portion of the brain seems OVERDEVELOPED
Children will have overdeveloped safety and stress response and act more impulsively even though the Thinking/Feeling part of brain may be normally sized
When children experienced neglect, they often did not develop the Thinking/Feeling parts of the brain, resulting in underdevelopment of higher reasoning parts of the brain
TRAUMA AND THE BRAIN
Neglect and trauma – Overdevelopment of Brainstem/Midbrain (anxiety, poor affect regulation, motor hyperactivity) and underdevelopment of Limbic/Cortical (affected empathy and problem solving skills)
Trauma and neglect – child’s brain develops in a survival style to help him stay safe
Child being wired for survival – being impulsive, anxious, acting from instinct instead of reason, and not able to identify or understand feelings
TRAUMA AND THE BRAIN
AMYGDALA
AMYGDALA
AMYGDALA AND HIPPOCAMPUS
TRAUMA RESPONSE
CORTEX OFF LINE
EARLY YEARS AND ATTACHMENT
THROUGH OUR EYES
Media clip
SIX CORE STRENGTHS
Media clip
WHAT DOES NEUROSCIENCE TELL US ABOUT EMOTIONS AND LEARNING?
Recent advances in neuroscience are highlighting connections between emotions, social functioning, and decision making that have the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the role of affect in education. In particular, the neurobiological evidence suggests that the aspects of cognition that we recruit most heavily in schools, namely learning, attention, memory, decision making and social functioning, are both profoundly affected by and subsumed within the processes of emotion – Immordino-Yang and Damasio 2007
ATTACHMENT
Our minds are continually shaped by emotions, experiences, relationships, opportunities, attitudes, values and beliefs, knowledge and genes. However, there is an instinctive priority of attachment over the brain’s exploratory system – feeling Safe and Secure is more important than learning
ATTACHMENT
The nature of a child’s primary attachments to caregivers lay the foundations for socio-emotional wellbeing and therefore children’s capacity to learn
Secure attachment relationships correlate strongly with higher academic attainment, better self-regulation and social competence
Secure attachment support mental processes that enable the child to regulate emotions, reduce fear, attune to others, have self understanding and insight, empathy for others and appropriate moral reasoning
Insecure attachments can have unfortunate consequences. If a child cannot rely on an adult to respond to their needs in times of stress, they are unable to learn how to soothe themselves, manage their emotions and engage in reciprocal relationships
A child’s initial dependence on others for protection, provides the experience and skills to help a child cope with frustrations, develop self-confidence and pro-social relationships – all qualities necessary to promote positive engagement with learning
INTERNAL WORKING MODEL
These are the mind’s internalized pictures of the physical and mental experiences of attunement with caregivers. They are establised in childhood and used to inform behaviour in all of the significant relationships in a child’s and adult life. They serve as filters for understanding current and future interactions and are used to help the child evaluate, predict and choose what behaviour to present
FOUR TYPES OF ATTACHMENT
SECURE – I am okay, you are there for me
INSECURE AVOIDANT – It is not okay to be emotional
INSECURE AMBIVALENT – I want comfort but it does not help me
INSECURE DISORGANISED – I am frightened
NEURONAL NETWORKS IN THE BRAIN
Our minds are complex systems constrained in their activity by neuronal connections, which are determined by both constitution and experience (Siegel 2012)
Secure, nurturing environments and stimulating, engaging experiences support the development of neuronal networks – they help to build the brains
Empathetic, supportive attachments and relationships are essential to optimize brain development as “the attunement of emotional states is essential for the developing brain to acquire the capacity to organise itself more autonomously as the child matures” (Siegel 2012)
TOXIC STRESS
Constant activation of the body’s stress response systems due to chronic or traumatic experiences in the absence of caring, stable relationships with adults, especially during the sensitive periods of early development, can be toxic to the brain architecture
Connections in the brain are reduced and lost through toxic stress
Fewer connections means it is more difficult to utilize the brain capacity and learn effectively
NEUROSCIENCE OF ATTACHMENT – KEY MESSAGES
Warm, responsive relationships and interactions (attunement) build children’s brains, and help them to learn to self-regulate their behavior
Securely attached children build positive internal working models of others as trustworthy and of the self as valuable and effective
Connections, relationships and attachments are vital for the development of the brain and mind and support learning at an anatomical, physiological, psychological, social and environmental level
Parents and key professionals need to have the understanding and knowledge of how to build the social and emotional capability within children and therefore empower individuals to break inter-generational cycles of dysfunction and underachievement
QUESTIONS
In what ways do schools provide “safe havens” for children?
When might they not be safe havens for some children?
Why do educators need to know about attachment? - the implications for learning and behavior
INFLUENCE OF ATTACHMENT
Attachment influences students’ school success – This is true of students’ attachment to their parents, as well as to their teachers. Secure attachment is associated with higher grades and standardised test scores compared to insecure attachment. Secure attachment is also associated with greater emotional regulation, social competence, and willingness to take on challenges, with lower level of delinquency, which in turn is associated with higher achievement
EMOTIONS AND LEARNING ARE INEXTRICABLY LINKED
Research demonstrates that emotions fundamentally drive cognitive learning and, in order to generate successful learning, educators need to engage the affective dimensions of pupils’ minds
Research draws attention to the significance of the pupil-teacher relationship in order to develop a positive emotional climate and an effective learning environment
Children who can regulate their own emotions and responses are more popular, have fewer behavioural problems, are more emotionally stable, have fewer infectious illnesses and achieve more academically in schools
To be able to engage in learning a pupil needs to be able to take risks, to learn new things and face new challenges. A good learner needs to be able to manage frustration and anxiety, have good self-esteem, be willing to take risks and be able to ask for help when needed
Attachment relationships therefore have a direct bearing on children’s capacity to succeed in school
TRAUMA FROM INSECURE ATTACHMENTS CAN LEAD TO VARIOUS CHALLENGING BEVAVIOURS
Toxic stress – high levels of stress hormones leads to hyperarousal (fight/flight) and dissociation (tuning out)
Inability to manage behaviour
Shame – hypersensitivity to criticism/apparent lack of remorse
Impaired understanding of others and difficulty with empathy
Feelings of worthlessness and poor self esteem
Lack of capacity for joy
Impaired understanding of the world
Difficulty making sense of sensory information
Difficulty making sense of feelings
THIS MEANS THAT
Neural systems in the brain (mirror systems) are frequently employed to defend rather than cooperate
Regulatory systems become biased/primed towards arousal and fear rather than relaxed and ready for learning
Neural brain patterns (attachment schemas) are used as battle plans for apparent survival rather than for ways of connecting
Reward systems seek alternatives (drugs) rather than contact with attachment figures
RECOVERY FROM TRAUMA
1. Feeling safe and secure – physically and emotionally
2. Relationships and secure attachments
3. Being able to express what has happened – creating a narrative to make the memories safe
SO THIS MEANS THAT
Teachers and other significant adults in a child’s life can provide important attachments for children
Positive associations are found between quality of teacher – child relationships and achievement
High quality teacher-child relationships help buffer children from the negative effects of insecure attachment on achievement
Emotional resilience and the ability to learn are inextricably linked
Secure attachment relationships correlate strongly with higher academic achievement, better self-regulation and social competence
SO WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE SCHOOLS?
Schools are children’s communities
Follow the ARC model which is –
1. building secure Attachments between the child and educator
2. enhancing self –Regulatory capacities and
3. increasing Competencies across multiple domains
Be child centred and acknowledge children’s different attachment styles
Create nurturing relationships
Create nurturing relationships to promote children’s learning and behaviour and satisfy children’s innate need to have a secure sense of belonging
Acknowledge adults’ roles as a potential secondary attachment figure who can help to reshape insecure attachment behaviours and support the development of more secure ones
Remember that safety cannot be experienced through cognitive processes alone; it must first be experienced at a sensory, implicit level in the deep mid-brain rather than the neocortex, upper brain region
Dual awareness – living in the trauma experience, children are unable to cognitively distinguish that the threat is over. We must therefore help the child with the “then” and the “now” or the internal and the external
Teach the child to recognise the differences in his body when traumatised versus relaxed and then engage the child in activities which replicate the relaxed state. Use his body as resource
Body awareness and control leads to self-regulation, which diminishes the deep mid-brain dominance and can provide access to those cognitive functions needed to attend, focus, recall, communicate, problem solve and consciously regulate one’s reactions
A trauma-informed school environment is not about creating a milieu the traumatised child can fit into, but allowing the child to discover those parts of the milieu that physiologically/neurologically feel the safest and then presenting the child with choices and opportunities to have access to those parts of the environment
We cannot possible assume we know what is best for a traumatised child until we can see
1. what he sees when he looks at himself
2. see what he sees as he looks at those around him
3. what he sees when he looks at the environment
Trauma surviving says “I must do something to let you know I am terrified...I will do whatever I need to do to control you and control your responses in order to survive....I will fight any experience, any activity, any person that I see as a threat to me... any person that tries to “control” me because if I let you control me I am vulnerable to your abuse, abandonment, again and again – (Internal working model)
Respond in a non-threatening sensory manner – bodily experience
To be influential, not controlling educators must be –
1. a safe person to be with
2. be in control of your emotions
3. provide clearly expressed expectations to the child
4. daily demonstrate your confidence in that child, that he can master new experiences and relationships
5. consistently follow through
IMPORTANT ROLE OF SCHOOLS
Emotional well-being must be a larger part of any learning, and by association, the educational agenda.... Schools may be the optimum sites for buffering the impact of stress/trauma, building resilience and enhancing the individual’s capacity for learning