The learning experience became re-enforced because of the high level of adrenaline that the rat produced showing that adrenaline is a key to long-term memory of life-threatening or shocking experiences. From this brief experiment one can say that adrenaline may be the most powerful mind altering drug known to man and when frightened this chemical reaction runs its super powerful course in pursuing “survival reaction”. The worst effect of adrenaline may be that one’s brain may become addicted to that same rush of adrenaline creating a dependency effect. In this manner it is easy to see how post traumatic stress disorder, with its flashbacks, hyper tension, and sometimes feeling of invincibility can take complete control over the body. As stress builds the body unconsciously and automatically produces more adrenaline which each subsequent experience.
Many of those in the military who have experienced combat can relate to the feeling of adrenaline production that fear can produce, and understand the feeling of an almost euphoric state as the body goes into survival mode. The high level of intensity created by traumatic events may then become a “need” that almost has to be fed. I can now understand how, back in the Vietnam era, we saw many of our fellow warriors volunteer for multiple tours of duty in the combat zone. They became addicted to the action. While adrenaline may be the one element that instills survival, it can also destroy the lives of those warriors when they have to return to the mundane world of civilian life.
by Ed Mattson
Adrenaline and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
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