What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing

by Bruce D. Perry

“Let’s look at the basic organization of the brain. It’s like a four-layered cake. At the top is the cortex, the most uniquely human part of our brain.” I started labeling my drawing with different brain-mediated functions, as in the illustration, opposite. As I did, I explained: “The systems at the top are responsible for speech and language, thinking, planning; our values and beliefs are stored there. And, very important for you, this is the part of the brain that can ‘tell time.’ When the cortex is ‘online’ and active, we can think about the past and look forward to the future. We know which things are in our past and which things are present, yes?” Mike and Sally nodded. “Okay. Now look at the bottom of the brain—the brainstem. This part of the brain controls less complex, mostly regulatory, functions like body-temperature regulation, breathing, heart rate, and so forth. But there are no networks in the bottom part that think or tell time. Sometimes we refer to this part of the brain as the reptilian brain, so think of what a lizard can do—they don’t plan much, or think; they mostly live in the moment and react. But we humans, thanks to the top part of our brain—the cortex—can invent, create, plan, and tell time.” I looked at them to make sure they were tracking with me before continuing. “Input from all of our senses—vision, hearing, touch, smell—first comes into our brain in the lower areas. None of our sensory input goes directly to the cortex; everything first conn...