Amygdala Hijack: How your lizard brain controls you

What’s in a hijack?

Daniel Goleman initially coined this term in 1996. The term describes an emotional response that is immediate, overwhelming, and uncharacteristic for the stimuli because it has triggered a significant emotional threat.[1] We developed the ability to respond immediately because of our need for survival, often referred to as the fight, flight, or freeze response.

Today the threat is different. We respond to emails we perceive as aggressive or rude,  are forced to sit in traffic, and speculate about our futures. These situations aren’t life-threatening, but they are stressful and frustrating. We rarely have any say in the resolution of our problems.. We can only live through them. 

Got a problem with my brain mate?

Unfortunately, the amygdala hasn’t evolved quite as quickly as our problems, hence the quote nickname, "lizard brain". Goleman suggests that the brain hasn’t had a hardware upgrade in 100,000 years. Outdated would be a poor definition of how far behind our brain is on making accurate judgements. Any strong emotional trigger can trip the amygdala; fear, anger, stress, and even joy.

Yes joy. Those, lose-your-mind for ten minutes laughing at the same joke while your peers look on in confusion. Or, any big moment for “your team”.

How our brain responds to stimulus

Except for our sense of smell, any of our sensory factors can trigger a hijack through the thalamus. The stimuli is sent to the amygdala, to make a threat assessment, and to the cortex, where we are given time to think.[2] The amygdala can react several milliseconds before the cortex has time to formulate a response. If it finds a match to the stimuli the amygdala hijacks our rational brain. In these moments we can only react. We receive time to think only after the fact.

When our amygdala is activated by threats  our body is flushed with the chemicals, adrenaline, cortisol, and norepinephrine, which serve to help our body react to excitement or stress. Adrenaline and norepinephrine help us to think faster, increases heart rate - pumping blood to our muscles, and increases gluten release fueling our movement. [3]

During a true hijacking these are all unnecessary. We’re amped over a false perception. Not only does our mind feel disjointed, but our body is experiencing a greater stimulus than necessary. We’re primed to react. Causing us to seem quick tempered or aggressive after an amygdala trip.

"Damn it Todd, for the last time it's not a fedora."

After the fact

As your body works to process the excess chemical boost it received, anywhere from half an hour to 4 as long as the stressor has passed, you’re likely to start processing just how foolish your reaction was.

Because these threats are often only perceived as threatening we feel regret or embarrassment. It can be difficult to make amends when you don’t even fully understand what happens. You’re often left trying to justify your response by other people’s behavior, they shouldn’t have said that, or their tone was disrespectful, but really it’s just that your basic lizard brain got the best of you.

I’m in no place to tell you what you should do if you’re looking to apologize. But, I can suggest that you shoulder the burden. Take responsibility, but be aware that this person or situation has the power to send you over the edge. 

What can we do to avoid a future hijacks?

Joseph E. Le Doux, whose work Goleman’s is, in part, based on, was positive we could learn to control the amygdala’s abrupt outbursts. 

''Once your emotional system learns something, it seems you never let it go,'' Dr. Le Doux said. ''What therapy does is teach you to control it. It teaches your cortex how to inhibit your amygdala. The propensity to act is suppressed, while your basic emotions about it may remain in a subdued form.'[4]

Another response is to analyze the situation. From your perspective, and when possible the "aggressors". What specific actions seemed to lead you to the outburst. Understanding what can trigger you is the strongest defense you can have against being pushed over the edge. If you know a specific person or mental state ends with a hijack you can work to avoid or overcome those situations.

Take away

The amygdala plays a key role in our stimulus system. It has the ability to take over our responses when we made need, more than anything, to stay calm and thoughtful. We have the ability to stay in charge of our situations as long as we work to understand what set's us off and why it did so. 

Author's note: I've reached out to a researcher trying to seek answers on the ability to prime our amygdala for events we think may hijack our brain. Depending on his answer one of my future articles will discuss this possibility.

I always appreciate a follow, comment, or upvote. I write about steemit's web analytics and the self-control

References: 

1. SPARC. Conflict and your brain

2. Joshua Freedman. 'Hijacking the Amygdala'

3.Study.Com. 'What is Norepinephrine' 

4. NYTimes. Brain Design Emerges As a Key to Emotions