The two processes are not entirely analogous. They are both the result of the body reacting to external stress, and to become more fit for the environment that creates the stress. In the weightlifting example this is a positive change — the body gets stronger, as long as the exercise program is good.
In the TBI and trauma cases, though, the external stresses are negative, not positive, thus the adaptations are negative as well. Teach a young brain that the world is stressful and scary and the brain will remember this, and act that way even when removed to a less scary world.
The brain "remembering" has zero link with gene expression, which is what the entire article is about. In fact nothing you mention above responds to the question of gene expression. There's no evidence whatsoever that the change in behavior of an individual after stress is linked to differences in gene expression.
That's quite the sweeping claim. Some quick googling suggests otherwise.
"Chronic stress induces significant gene expression changes in the prefrontal cortex alongside alterations in adult hippocampal neurogenesis"
>In this study, unpredictable chronic mild stress in mice resulted in a deficit in neuronal dendritic tree development and neuroblast migration in the hippocampal neurogenic niche. To investigate molecular pathways underlying neurogenesis alteration, genome-wide gene expression changes were assessed in the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and the hypothalamus alongside neurogenesis changes. Cluster analysis showed that the transcriptomic signature of chronic stress is much more prominent in the prefrontal cortex compared to the hippocampus and the hypothalamus. Pathway analyses suggested huntingtin, leptin, myelin regulatory factor, methyl-CpG binding protein and brain-derived neurotrophic factor as the top predicted upstream regulators of transcriptomic changes in the prefrontal cortex. Involvement of the satiety regulating pathways (leptin) was corroborated by behavioural data showing increased food reward motivation in stressed mice. Behavioural and gene expression data also suggested circadian rhythm disruption and activation of circadian clock genes such as Period 2.
You didn't read the paper, and you didn't understand it. It didn't make a link between gene expression and behavioral changes. It just noted a change in gene expression in a handful of mice, basically the same study as the above.
>Many target genes, upstream regulators and signalling pathways involved in the PFC response in our study could be linked to dendritic remodelling and spine atrophy, a well-described effect of chronic stress on the PFC. Based on the IPA pathway and upstream regulator analysis, glutamatergic and calcium signalling, as well as Htt and Bdnf-centred networks stood out as the most significantly involved. Indeed, repeated stress is known to cause suppressed glutamate receptor expression and signalling in the PFC, which is thought to be linked to dendritic atrophy (Yuen et al., 2012). Many recent studies have explored the antidepressant potential of ketamine in chronic stress animal models of depression, strengthening the glutamatergic theory of depression (Zhu et al., 2015; Sun, 2016). In addition, disruption of glutamatergic signalling has been previously linked to hyperactivity (Procaccini et al., 2011).
The animals in the study, as expected, showed depression-associated and hyperactivity behaviors. This study wasn't looking at any specific thing in a fine-grained sense, let alone trying to establish causation. But "no link" seems like quite a stretch.
Yes, of course they showed effects from the UCMS. But not one single sentence in that report said that those effects were from gene expression. YOU are the only one adding a link there. It's easy for someone like you to just say there's a link, but not even the study pretends to say there's a link between the results of trauma are because of gene expression.
I think you’re either someone who has suffered abuse and haven’t yet unlearned the effects of it, or you haven’t suffered abuse from a child and doesn’t have firsthand experience on how much it damages you.
Is the world often stressful and scary? Yes. But the lessons that trauma teaches a child do not help the adult manage fear nor stress. For example: a child who has to care for their alcoholic parent can risk growing into an adult that doesn’t know when they’re being taken advantage because they were literally taken advantage of since childhood. A child who was severely beaten at the slightest infraction risks growing up into an adult that cannot handle even minor conflict because they associate being disagreed with to broken bones.
Some have those results. Some have the opposite results and lean into learning how to handle those situations. That is also a very common reaction.
Firefighters, EMTs, Nurses, Paramedics, LEO, smoke jumpers, and many Soldiers of all stripes have the same backgrounds. 80%+ in my experience. A surprising (perhaps) numbers of skydivers and climbers too.
Including the West Point graduates, special forces (officers and enlisted), SWAT members, ICU and ED nurses, etc. that I’ve known personally.
And several CEOs of tech companies.
One that I know who I personally saw beaten (as a child) at the slightest infraction or none at all until I stepped in (as a child myself) to stop it, became a decorated officer in USSOCOM and did multiple combat tours in Afghanistan. And at least two (now) Majors and a Colonel I’ve known since they were kids.
The world is not as simple as it appears.
Most folks who end up in uncommon places did so because they experienced uncommon things and learned lessons from it that most people never will have the chance to learn.
Folks who haven’t learned those lessons tend to not survive many of those places for long.
> Some have those results. Some have the opposite results and lean into learning how to handle those situations. That is also a very common reaction.
Childhood trauma is a routine area of clinical specialization because it is so common, and I've never known anyone in that field to hold this position. Anecdotally sure yes plenty of traumatized children become successful adults but very simply and grimly most do not. Extreme survivorship bias at play here, often literally.
And separately I am not sure, in this context, considering what we now know about the behavior of american soldiers in afghanistan, that people being drawn to that environment or succeeding within it is evidence of anything positive about them.
Since psychology is expressly about dysfunction, it is a reverse survivorship bias no?
And not like anyone who has gone through these situations is going to hang a sign on them that says what they’ve gone through.
All of them I know have been quite successful however, and if you walk into any ICU or Emergency department and randomly sample a nurse or Dr, at least 80% odds you’ll find they have that background if you can get them to talk.
EMT-B or EMT-P, much higher.
The world is a dangerous and scary place many times, for everyone. Chances are, you’d be shocked if you listened to your local EMS/LEO frequencies at how much even within a few miles of where you are sitting.
Most of the time, society is able to put up a facade so there is a chance everyone doesn’t have to experience it too directly or too terribly themselves, so others have a chance to live a different life.
The sick and injured get treated, the bodies get cleaned up, the threats get dealt with quickly and effectively, etc.
The people that do that, can stare it in the eye and deal with it, and that often is because they experienced it and learned how to cope or even thrive. Usually as a child.
Respect for that is more warranted than what you’re doing. They get enough shit as it is.
They can handle it though, they deal with worse every day.
Frankly I have gone through this and I have not been successful. It has held me back in every moment and every step through life. In support groups with other survivors I hear the same things over and over again: grief and loss at the people we could have been. More than a few of your "successful" high achievement individuals in those rooms in tears with the same sentiment.
I’m sorry to hear you are still suffering. I’ve been there, and yes those high achievement individuals often have too at some point.
Part of the problem is that we often focus on what could have been, instead of the wins of what was, no? Part of what makes things hard though, is if we never process/feel the bad things, we can’t move on.
When we process the pain, we can start to let go, and the wins start to come through.
It becomes a past, not a present. We can start to see the truth of what is in front of us, instead of getting stuck in an illusion.
Some learned/were able to earlier, some later. In my experience. We can look at the future more than relive the past.
Some avoid it, and that is often where true evil takes root.
‘Toughing it out’ works in the moment, but adds up over time until we hit our limits. The longer the pain stays in, the more it calcifies. Often, if it’s ‘stuck’ it’s due to something that is very difficult to see due to how bad it is.
No one comes through life without some grief and loss and pain, literally no one. Some get more than others, some handle it more than others.
In the end, we’re all dirt anyway - what matters is what we do with the time we have. I hope you find some peace. It is possible, but it is often not natural.
If you’re still struggling, there may be alternatives that can help. They do often take time and money.
I’m happy to provide some pointers or references if you’d like. No guarantees, but I have had some significant personal relief as have others. It is possible.
I am telling you that no one is better with trauma than they would have been without it. It's a simple message please hear it. I don't need anything else from you.
I don’t know where you got from my comments where trauma is good. I said quite clearly that trauma is terrible, actually?
What I did note is trauma exists, and trauma is nearly everywhere at some point unless someone goes through a lot of work protecting others from it. But also that it’s impossible to protect everyone from it all the time forever.
And that has costs that some have learned to bear better than others, and there are tools that can help if one is willing to engage with them.
It is possible to not be in pain, eventually.
That no one can be better after experiencing it depends a lot on what you mean by ‘better’. There are easier paths, of course.
A society without the people who can handle this won’t exist for long, so these
folks are important.
Society wise, I’ve known a lot of folks that society calls (justifiably, IMO) heros, and have had to trust my life to them and vice versa in situations that most people definitely, provably, can not handle. But that if not handled would cause far worse trauma to other innocent people.
And I’ve found the label appropriate. They and I have also experienced a lot of pain, and none are perfect.
I’ve held more dying men’s hands than anyone should have to. But it was important someone did it, and I was there. As to if that makes the trauma that got either of us there better, or worse, seems immaterial. It was. I feel honored to have been able to do it, and hope it provided them some peace.
I wish you and anyone else reading this the best of luck, regardless.
In the TBI and trauma cases, though, the external stresses are negative, not positive, thus the adaptations are negative as well. Teach a young brain that the world is stressful and scary and the brain will remember this, and act that way even when removed to a less scary world.