Physiological impact of psychological trauma

I’ve thought for a long time that our experiences in life physically change and shape the ways our brains work.  The brain doesn’t have to be physically traumatized to become damaged; psychological trauma will do the trick just as well.

Two articles from ScienceDaily.com that I read today covered interesting aspects of this truth.

Chronic stress experienced by infant primates leads to fearful and aggressive behaviors; these are associated with changes in stress hormone production and in the development of the amygdala.

Studies report early childhood trauma takes visible toll on brain.

We found that as exposure to violence increased, cortisol reactivity decreased, so cortisol reactivity was attenuated; it was a habituation effect

Exposure to Violence has long-term stress effects among adolescents.

I’ve been interested in and researching this recently because one of the main characters in the story suffered extreme psychological trauma and exposure to violence as a child and adolescent.  It has affected who he has become as an adult.  Part of our story is looking at how this character deals with his traumatic experiences (his “demons”) and eventually overcomes them.  You’ll see what I mean once the comic gets up and going.  You’ll be all like, “that dude’s a jerk,” or something until you learn where he’s coming from.