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The brain–mind works like a three-story house: instinct, habit, and reflection.

Trauma histories can keep the emotional “basement” on constant alert.

Simple practices—breath, labeling feelings, and play—help restore balance.

I’ll start with some radical honesty: Coping right now is hard work for me. As tensions rise globally, it can feel as if we’re teetering on the edge of catastrophe. Even after decades of studying emotion, I still wrestle with anxiety—especially in the current climate.

In my last post, I wrote about how neuroscience identified seven core emotional systems embedded deep in the evolutionarily oldest brain. Here, I expand that conversation to the architecture of the whole brain–mind—and how understanding it can help us cope.

We’re living through what I call the Traumademic: the emotional aftermath of overlapping crises—pandemics, political polarization, climate threats, and chronic uncertainty—layered on top of our personal trauma histories. The result? We often feel emotionally hijacked and disconnected. Even as a neuroscientist and therapist, I’m not immune.

When Emotions Take the Wheel

You probably know the feeling: One moment you’re OK, and the next you’re flooded with fear, panic, or rage. That’s emotional hijacking—when the feeling brain temporarily takes over the thinking brain. These ancient emotional circuits evolved to protect us from immediate threats. But today’s “predators”—the nonstop news cycle, social media, economic stress—keep the brain’s alarm system permanently on. We marinate in fight-flight-freeze chemistry that fuels anxiety, burnout, and emotional numbness.

The Three-Story Brain–Mind

I often ask clients to imagine the brain–mind as a three-story house. Each level plays a role in........

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