“Once the signal comes into the brainstem”—here I directed their attention to the bottom of the triangle—“it is processed. Basically, the incoming signal is matched against previously stored experiences. In this case, the matching process connected the motorcycle backfire with gunfire—remember that combat-related memory? And since your brainstem can’t tell time, or know that many years have passed, it activates the stress response and you have a full-blown threat response. You feel and act as if you are under attack. Your brainstem can’t say, ‘Hey, don’t get so stirred up, Korea was thirty
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