Trauma increases vulnerability to mental illness and stress related psychopathology. Repeated and sustained activation of stress response systems exert 'wear and tear' on the body and brain, referred to as allostatic load, which results from the direct effects of persistent activation of the stress response, together with the loss of systems that normally oppose or buffer the stress response. This process of homeostasis will be discussed along with the concept of entropy in trauma, noting that the biological mechanisms that account for the observed changes in the body and mind, 'how the body keeps the score' remains inadequately defined.
Considerable pre-clinical data support critical roles for the endocannabinoid system and its main target, the cannabinoid 1 receptor (the most abundant G protein linked receptor in the mammalian brain) in the adaptation of the brain to repeated stress exposure. Endocannabinoids regulate affective states, participate in memory consolidation, retrieval and extinction and modulate the effects of stress on the brain and may have an important role in the biology of play. The endocannabinoid system is altered by exposure to trauma and current evidence indicates a link between the loss endocannabinoid system homeostasis and maladaptive brain changes after trauma and therefore a mechanism for 'how the body keeps the score.’
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Video Lecture: How does body Keep the Score?
PPT Slides: How does the body keep the score.
Assessment Component
Dr Jamie Rickord is a GP, psychoanalytic psychotherapist and one of Australia’s most experienced prescribers and educators of cannabinoid medicine. His primary interest is the development and integration of effective therapeutic interventions that include mindbody medicine, psychotherapy and the considered use of novel pharmacological adjuncts to assist therapists in the treatment of trauma.
