Amygdala. This is your brain’s emotional center — it’s responsible for how you react to the good, the bad and everything in between. When trauma occurs … well, let’s just say it starts to do its job a little too well. “And so what can happen is that this part of the brain becomes overly aroused and is more hyper-vigilant to danger,” explains Duke. “For all of us, the amygdala is sort of our protection center, and it tries to keep bad things from happening to us. So, it may start to ring false alarms because it’s always looking for some sort of problem or danger around the corner.”