Early Life Stress Can Alter Brain Structure

A child’s relationship with their mother is a key factor in terms of how their brain develops. If the mom is depressed then the child’s brain processes stress differently, leading to a larger amygdala and higher levels of glucocorticoids. This would cause a person to grow up with a brain structure more prone to an aggressive/combative stress response.

The amygdala is a key part of your subconscious brain that processes threats to survival. Amygdala activation is important if you plan to survive an emergency of any type. It underlies your “left brain” which is involved with being orderly, structured, and responsible.

In animal experiments, if a probe touches the amygdala the animal experiences immediate rage. It is also likely that obsessive/compulsive behavior is driven by a dysfunctional amygdala.

Normal development of this gland appears to need a stable environment, one that is highlighted by the love and care of mom. This new study says that if mom is depressed then the child must learn to fend for themselves too much, resulting in excess “exercise” of the amygdala and consequent increase in physical size of that region of the brain.

The same has also been found for children raised in orphanages. In other words, the more threatening or unloving the developmental environment, the larger the amygdala becomes. It has also been shown that children adopted into stable families do not develop the larger amygdala, clearly showing that this region of the brain is developing in response to the stability of the environment.

While some might argue that a large amygdala would help a person cope with high levels of future stress, it would also be true that such a person would be more prone to an excessive stress response – one that is angry, hostile, or combative. The study also shows that such individuals have higher levels of circulating stress hormones (glucocorticoids), essentially meaning that their early environment has “trained” them to be constantly stressed. This is much more likely to be a handicap in personal and work situations than an actual life skill (unless maybe your life is being on the front lines of a war).

Such individuals will need to maintain adequate levels of calcium and magnesium, as well as antihistamine nutrition such as quercetin and carnosine, so as to help compensate for this hyperactive brain region. Of course, just understanding the nature of the problem may help some to understand and manage their situation more effectively. I would hypothesize that finding loving relationships or at least caring friendships would go a long way towards keeping this problem in balance.