This handout is a depiction of our triune brain (brain stem, limbic system, and cortices) and can be used to explain to clients how the brain takes in information. When our brain takes in new information, such as a threat, it enters through the bottom (brain stem) and moves upwards. Because of this, our adult brain does not have the chance to evaluate new information when our stress response system is activated by the brain stem/ limbic system. This explains why a trigger, such as a criticism can send us into fight/flight/freeze/fawn without our adult brain having the chance to evaluate the threat.