ABSTRACT

There are four conditions that need to be met for an event to be encoded as a traumatic memory. First, one needs an emotionproducing event. Second, the event must have meaning for the individual. Third, the brain’s neurochemical landscape at the time of the event must be suitable, and fourth, the event must be perceived as inescapable. If these are present, then, through the intermediacy of the amygdala, an enduring imprint of the moment and its associated components is synaptically encoded. The event has been traumatized.