Trauma researchers have looked inside the brains of people who have suffered serious emotional trauma. The first scan was while they remembered neutral events in their lives. The second scan was taken as they were exposed to scripted versions of their traumatic memories. During the scanning, the images actually showed dissociation happen in the brains of these PTSD patients. When they remembered a traumatic event, the left frontal cortex shut down, particularly Broca's area (the center for speech). But areas of the right hemisphere, associated with emotional states and autonomic arousal, lit up, particularly the area around the amygdala, which might be called the brain's "smoke detector.” This suggests that when people relive their traumatic
