Infamous kidnapping survivor shares brain scan findings detailing the impact of her trauma
Research in recent years has started to examine how traumatic events can manifest into neurological alterations, and imaging has played a key role in allowing experts to objectively analyze the impact of trauma. Now, an infamous survivor of a childhood abduction is sharing how her experiences affected her brain on a physiological level.
Elizabeth Smart survived the unimaginable when she was kidnapped at just 14-years-old in 2002. Although Smart’s story turned out differently than that of many others—she was rescued nine months after her abduction—the traumatic event left her with a lifetime of emotional trauma. Smart, an author, advocate of child safety measures and mother herself now, recently underwent SPECT imaging of her brain as part of her consultation with Daniel Amen, MD, a popular celebrity psychiatrist and founder of Amen Clinics.
Smart sat down with Amen after undergoing SPECT imaging to share her story and the years of trauma that followed for an episode of Amen’s "Change Your Brain Every Day" podcast. The two spoke in depth about her experiences and how they might have affected her brain health.
“SPECT looks at blood flow and activity. It looks at how your brain works,” Amen explains. “It basically shows us three things—good activity, whether there is too little or too much. My job is to balance them.”
Amen explains that on SPECT imaging, a healthy brain should appear full, even and symmetrical in shape. He then reviews Smart’s results, highlighting the activity in primary areas of concern with respect to trauma. Amen goes on to describe what he sees in her frontal lobe, reassuring her that the activity observed in that portion of her brain looks very healthy.
“Overall, you have a lot of great activity,” Amen says. “If [activity in] this part would have been low—I'm sorry but you wouldn’t have survived.”
After moving on from the frontal lobe, Amen tells Smart that one of her temporal lobes is showing lower activity, as if she had sustained physical trauma or damage to the area.
“This one looks like it got hurt. It looks like at some point you got whacked and it hurt your temporal lobe,” Amen says. “Those minor concussions can cause major problems. It’s not bad, it’s just sleepy. And we can make it better.”
He continues to review the scan, pointing out activity patterns indicative of PTSD. Smart asks if everyone has those sorts of patterns because, to some degree, everyone experiences their own version of trauma. Amen explains that while many people have similar patterns, it is not common to the average person.
Amen concluded the podcast by offering Smart advice on supplements and exercises that he believes will improve her brain activity in the regions where it appeared altered and suggesting that she undergo follow-up scans in a few months.
“Whatever you’re doing, it’s working. I think you’re awesome,” Amen tells Smart. “You’re doing great things in the world.”
In addition to her background in journalism, Hannah also has patient-facing experience in clinical settings, having spent more than 12 years working as a registered rad tech. She began covering the medical imaging industry for Innovate Healthcare in 2021.