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An amygdala hijack is an emotional response to stress. But to better understand what an amygdala hijack is, you’ll need to understand a bit about how the brain functions. You’ll also need to understand two specific parts of the brain: the amygdala and the frontal lobes. Amygdala hijack is a term coined by the psychologist Daniel Goleman in order to explain this type of uncontrollable emotional reaction. Goleman, as an expert in emotional intelligence, tells us that the secret to us becoming irrational has to do with a momentary and immediate lack of emotional control. It occurs when the amygdala takes over our brain.

It might seem a bit strange that the most developed part of our brain, the cortex, could be dominated by a structure as primitive as the amygdala. However, it makes sense if you look at it from an evolutionary perspective. Thousands of years ago, it was all about survival. When we hunted in the jungle, for example, we could find ourselves in front of a lion. Our amygdala deactivated the rest of the cerebral functions because it wasn’t time to stop and think about the danger. Nor was it time for digestion or ovulation. Instead, it was time to apply the fight or flight response.

But in the modern world, when we find ourselves faced with an important stressor, we get hijacked by our amygdala even if it doesn’t threaten our survival, like a traffic jam for example. This fills our entire body with adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones alter our body for an estimated four-hour period of emotional hijacking.

And thus, after an intense emotion produced by an important stressor, we tend to feel a so-called “emotional hangover” for a while. This hangover is due to the hormones which are still circulating through our system and which make the discomfort last much longer