Bedalane

vastderp:

Ruby Wax on mental illness, [x].

motherfucking SLAM.

and just in case you aren’t sad enough, here are a couple of brain scans showing differences between the brains of two children of equivalent ages.

The experience of being abused and deprived of stimulation permanently and physicially alters the developing brain of a child in significant measurable ways that we do not have the science yet to repair after the damage is discovered.

It sounds very odd, but, in fact, when you are an infant and your brain is developing, the love that the people around you give, the touch, the eye contact, the tone of voice, the things, the physical manifestations of our love literally provide stimulation to the developing brain, and the neurons in the brain have more sprouts. They make certain areas connect more effectively. They make certain areas grow. They literally make the brain become functional.

Love literally grows the brain.

[x]

The kid whose head is wired by neglect or abuse is going to have a difficult life in a world his brain was not built to interact with. Maybe he’ll get in trouble with the law, have emotional problems and act out or become abusive to his loved ones, or maybe he’ll just spin his wheels and feel empty and wonder why (as many people will no doubt have asked him outright over his years) he can’t just try harder to get over it.

Massive amounts of therapy will help later, but that’s assuming he isn’t too ashamed to get it or turned away thanks to our bullshit for-profit healthcare system.

Mind over matter is bullshit if the matter is your mind.

http://unitedwayrivercities.org/brainBuilder.html

http://annecarolinedrake.com/2011/10/14/shout-out-anderson-cooper-is-shining-a-spotlight-on-abuse-and-the-power-of-love/

http://www.9news.com/news/local/article/300386/681/Abused-or-neglected-kids-more-likely-to-have-impaired-body-and-brain

Oh wow