Amygdala scripts

Amygdala script is a term used to describe the neurobiological underpinnings central to many psychological problems. An amygdala script is created when a series of repeatedly painful events occur, or when one especially traumatic incident happens. For example, a child is repeatedly ridiculed and rejected by an older sibling who tells him that he is “a drag” and not worthy of being included in play, or a child is physically abused. The result of such painful experiences, especially for children, can create a type of memory mediated by amygdala Media:amygdala.ogg regions of the brain. These memories are: very durable, lasting even for a lifetime; includes an emotion component. When activated later in life, this type of memory results in a reaction that tends to “script” how one feels, thinks and behaves in evocative circumstances.
For example, the child mentioned above, who was ridiculed and rejected by his older sibling, might, as an adult, tend to feel anxious in social groups (the emotion component), harbor an assumption that people won’t find him likable (implicit memory or image component, sometimes referred to as a cognitive distortion), and have no idea that what he experiences in these circumstances is the result of an activated memory (unconscious or automatic response). Left unaddressed this tendency might well haunt him for the rest of his life (very durable). Therefore an amygdala script is shorthand for what might otherwise be termed “amygdala-mediated emotion/cognitive memory”.
Mechanisms in amygdala scripts that cause cognitive distortions
One mechanism for cognitive distortion is the tendency of amygdala-mediated emotional responses to “capture” attention potentially resulting in impaired processing. Aspects of an immediate situation that lack emotional relevance are discounted, skewing the experience toward an exaggerated sense of threatening emotional significance Through this process old “implicit memories” become overlaid upon present circumstances, biasing assessments of that immediate situation with negative assumptions that were much more appropriate to the original learning situations. Combined, these aspects of a retrieved and active amygdala-mediated memory result in at least a transitory distortion of present reality wherein an immediate situation becomes loaded with inaccurate or exaggerated affect and the circumstances become interpreted in ways that support the distorted affective response. As we mentioned before amygdala-mediated memories are famously robust and easily triggered. In short, left unaddressed, an activated amygdala-mediated memory creates a backdrop of emotion and imagery that scripts a person’s feelings, assumptions and ultimately his or her behavior in ways that are inappropriate to his or her immediate surroundings.
Amygdala scripts and common psychological problems
Amygdala scripts are deemed to play a pivotal role in most common psychological problems, partly because of their striking similarities:
*amygdala scripts manifest as inappropriate emotions and cognitive distortions
*they are stubbornly durable,
*they are easily activated
*and they are often derived from childhood experiences.
The theory that amygdala scripts underlie many psychological problems is further bolstered by neurobiological research that points to the central role that the amygdala plays in a variety of psychological problems including depression
, anxiety
, and borderline personality disorder.
Amygdala scripts, psychotherapy and self-help
The neurobiological model that underlies the theory of amygdala scripts suggest important ways in which established psychotherapeutic interventions can be better targeted and substantially stream-lined to catalyze therapeutic and self-promoted positive psychological change. A “Three-step Practice” is an example of such an innovation. It has been successfully utilized in clinical settings and as a self-help intervention.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu