How does Child Abuse really affect the Developing Mind? People’s brains develop capabilities, suited to reflect the world they are raised in. If that world is characterized by threat, chaos, unpredictability, fear and trauma, the brain will reflect that by altering the development of the neural systems involved in the stress and fear response, as the brain develops what is used and needed during growth. When trauma is introduced during the “growth stage” of brain function (infancy through adolescence) the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is hurt, and if trauma persists, it becomes “worn out”, causing it to “give up” working. Therefore, a key area involved in memory, cognition and arousal stops growing and maturing. Children with complex trauma histories may develop chronic or recurrent physical complaints, headaches or stomachaches. They may be hypersensitive to sounds, smells, touch or light, they may be unaware of pain, touch, or internal physical sensations. As a result they may injure themselves without registering pain, suffer from physical problems without being aware of them, or, the opposite (complain of chronic pain in various areas that have no physical cause). They have difficulty developing a strong healthy attachment to people and are more vulnerable to stress, have trouble controlling and expressing emotions, and may react violently or inappropriately to situations. To develop healthy, supportive relationships with friends and significant others, depends on having first developed those relationships with families and caregivers. When children grow up under conditions of constant threat, all their internal resources go toward survival. It may feel safer to blame oneself than to recognize the parent as unreliable and dangerous. Shame, guilt, low self-esteem, and a poor self-image are common among children with complex trauma histories. Traumatized children learn from an early age that they cannot trust, the world is not safe, and they are powerless. A multitude of mental disorders, which affect and change a person for their entire lifetime, are caused by abuse and neglect at a young age. The prefrontal cortex which is still developing in children, is slow to activate, it does not react quick enough, nor is it developed enough to know how to be able to evaluate trauma and give the correct response answer. In child trauma the limbic system is activated since it is a fast reactive area. By reacting so quickly the important cortex is pushed aside which only furthers the damage to developmental progress. Only calm arousal allows activation of the prefrontal cortex needed for learning and problem solving. That is where “innocence lost” occurs. Not only the robbing of physical innocence of bodily experiences, which heals and can be forgotten, but more damaging, irreversible, un-heal-able, and unforgettable, is the robbing of mental development (neurological murder). Child trauma steals the ability to develop completely, vital to being a full human and affecting the victim in every aspect of life from that moment until they die. (excerpt/subtitles text from an old video we put out in 2018) This is why we do what we do.