The amygdala is a part of your brain responsible for detecting threats and triggering your fear response. In a healthy brain, the amygdala is like a smoke detector; it sounds the alarm when there is real danger. But under narcissistic abuse, the amygdala becomes hypersensitive and hyperactive. Every raised voice, change in tone, or silence becomes a possible threat. Over time, your amygdala becomes inflamed and enlarged—a condition documented in studies on post-traumatic stress disorder and complex trauma. This results in chronic anxiety, panic attacks, and emotional flashbacks.
You do not just remember the abuse; you relive it through reactions stored in your body as somatic memories. With one trigger, there is the reaction. The narcissist conditions your amygdala through their treatment to be on constant alert, even long after the abuse has ended. Your brain scans for cues: Is this person about to devalue me? Am I about to be abandoned again? Will my truth be denied? Your body responds before logic can kick in, which is not a weakness; it is actual functional brain damage.
Hippocampus: Memory and Learning Hub
Now let’s talk about your hippocampus. The hippocampus helps you process and store memories. It is responsible for distinguishing between past and present. Under prolonged abuse, it literally shrinks—a finding confirmed in various MRI studies of trauma survivors, especially those with complex PTSD. When the hippocampus is damaged, you struggle to form new memories and misremember the past, which is why that brain fog occurs. You lose a sense of time and cannot organize your thoughts properly.
That’s why many survivors of narcissistic abuse say they have memory gaps, confusion, or an inability to recall what really happened. You may doubt your timeline, your version of events, or even your sanity. This is worsened by gaslighting, which actively targets your hippocampus by denying your reality, forcing you to reconstruct your memories around the narcissist’s version of events. It becomes difficult to know what is real because your brain’s reality filter has been tampered with.
Prefrontal Cortex: Decision Making and Emotional Regulation
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