Brain

Free articles about the effect of childhood trauma on the brain

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Different BPD Symptoms Linked To Different Areas Of Brain Activation

All articles, Borderline personality disorder (BPD), Brain / By

We know that severe and protracted childhood trauma can damage the way in which various brain regions develop. Studies also show that there is a strong association between childhood trauma and the later development of borderline personality disorder (BPD) and we shouldn’t be surprised, therefore, that research has shown that borderline personality disorder(BPD) sufferers can …

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Depression, Mental Pain, Suicide And Associated Brain Regions

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We have seen that those who suffer severe and protracted childhood trauma are at increased risk of suffering from depression in adulthood. We know that depression can lead to physical pain but it can also lead to excruciating emotional pain. One such type of emotional pain was described by Eisenberger and  Lieberman (2005) as ‘social …

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Repairing The Traumatized Brain: The Staircase Metaphor

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Over the centuries various metaphors have been used to help explain the brain and its functioning. These metaphors have tended to reflect the most advanced technology that had been created at the time such as springs and levers, steam engines, and, most recently, computers. Another recent way of describing the brain was by splitting it …

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Improved Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Procedure

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  What Is Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation? : Transcranial magnetic stimulation is normally abbreviated as TMS. Essentially, this treatment works by delivering short pulses of magnetic energy (which are generated by a handheld device that contains an electromagnetic coil) to specific brain regions. It is a non-physically invasive therapy and the smallish, relatively simple device is …

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When ‘Survival Brain’ Replaces ‘Learning Brain’ Due To Childhood Trauma

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If we suffer severe, protracted childhood trauma that involved us living in an environment in which we were constantly anticipating danger from an abusive parent or primary carer it is possible that our ‘survival’ brain was so frequently activated that it became dominant at the expense of the development and functioning of the ‘learning’ brain. …

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New eBook On Childhood Trauma And The Brain.

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My new eBook, available for immediate download, was published in January 2019. See below for details or click here (United Kingdom) or here (United States) to view on Amazon. Book Description : Sadly, severe childhood trauma can actually physically affect brain development which can adversely affect how we feel and behave for years, or decades …

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How Childhood Trauma Harms The Brain’s Insula

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WHAT IS THE BRAIN’S INSULA? The insula is a small region of the brain’s cerebral cortex (see diagram below). Its precise function is not fully understood but it is hypothesized to play a significant role in : generating our conscious self-awareness of our emotions. interoceptive processing (this refers to the degree to which we are …

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Strong Feelings Of Guilt In Childhood Can Affect Brain Development

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  Research suggests that children who are prone to feelings of intense, excessive guilt are at increased risk in adulthood of developing various psychiatric disorders. These include :    – bipolar disorder    – depression    – anxiety    – obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) A longitudinal study (Belden et al.), published in JAMA Psychiatry, involved a …

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How Traumatized Brain Differs From Normal Brain And 7 Ways To Repair It

All articles, Brain, Complex PTSD / By

Severe and protracted childhood trauma can physically damage the brain’s development, adversely affecting both its structure and functionality, which, in turn, can contribute to the development of very serious psychiatric conditions such as complex posttraumatic stress disorder (complex PTSD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD). In this article, I will focus in on the main ways …

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Why Adolescents’ Brains Increase Their Risk Of Psychological Problems

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570 word article For many, adolescence is a very difficult and stressful time, not least because of the neurological and interacting hormonal changes that occur during the period. Changes In The Brain : Between the ages of about ten and early adulthood, the brain undergoes three major periods of dramatic physical development as described below …

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Childhood Psychological Trauma Can Lead To Brain Inflammation

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It has recently been discovered that chronic, unpredictable, psychological stress in early life can lead to inflammation in the brain. This has come as something of a surprise to many researchers as it had previously been believed by most of those working in this recondite field of neurology that such inflammation of the brain had …

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More on How Trauma and Stress can Affect the Child’s Developing Brain.

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Our brains developed over millions of years of evolution. Different parts of the modern human brain evolved at different periods of this enormous time span. The most primitive part of the modern brain, which evolved first, is known, rather unflatteringly, as the REPTILIAN brain. This part of our brain is ‘in charge’ of BASIC SURVIVAL …

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Structural Abnormalities in the Brains of Narcissists

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  I have already posted many articles about how being brought up by a parent with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) can be extremely traumatic and lead to the development of our own psychological conditions once we ourselves have become adults (e.g. click here). However, in this post I want to look at how the structure …

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Neuroplasticity : 3 Ways Brain Can Physically Recover From Trauma

All articles, Brain, Complex PTSD / By

THE BRAIN AND NEUROPLASTICITY : I have previously written articles on how early life trauma can adversely affect the physical development of the brain leading to, for example, psychological difficulties in adulthood such as finding it hard to control our emotions and finding it difficult to cope with stress. I have also written about how …

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PTSD – What Happens in the Brain?

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Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the potentially devastating effects that may follow on from childhood trauma, and, in this context, the condition is frequently referred to as ‘complex PTSD.’ But what is actually happening inside of the brain in individuals who are suffering from this most serious condition? To answer this question, it …

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Is Hypnosis Real? Evidence From Neuroimaging And Brain Activity.

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Is Hypnosis Real? In the past, scientific studies on the effectiveness of hypnosis had to rely upon the verbal reports of those who had undergone hypnosis – in other words, the researchers relied upon the subjective account the person who had been hypnotized gave of his/her experience (which is not an ideal way of accruing scientific …

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Recovery: How the Brain can ‘Rewire’ Itself (Neuroplasticity).

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Severe childhood trauma can adversely affect the way in which the brain develops, leading to, for example, extremes in anxiety or great difficulty in controlling emotions. However, there has been exciting research conducted showing that the brain is able, under certain conditions, to ‘rewire’ itself, correcting its own faulty circuitry, and, thus, alleviating the behavioral and …

Recovery: How the Brain can ‘Rewire’ Itself (Neuroplasticity). Read More »

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