Buried in It
Some are born with a silver spoon in their mouth. Some are born neck-deep in “it”. We are not all born equal, although there are basics for most of us. For example, all newborns have very little activity in the cerebral cortex.
Epigenetics
That means we are pretty much born with a clean cortical slate. And for the most part, mothers are the first to write on this slate.
So if you want to work on school violence, you might best start with mothers. In particular, you might want to work with mothers who themselves had poor care and formed insecure attachments when they were infants and children. Then if they become mothers, some do not bond with their newborn and so it goes with a new generation of perpetuating insecure attachment.
Epigenesis
Now we know more about insecure attachment in terms of epigenesis –– gene expression that takes place as the result of experience. Epigenesis is the gene expression that happens after birth as a result of the child’s experience in the world. It is a process whereby a dormant gene becomes active or an active gene becomes dormant.
Although some of the genetic endowment we are born with will precisely and indelibly determine the attributes we will exhibit across our lifespans, certain experiences during our lifespans can cause genes to be expressed more vigorously or less so. So a previously dormant gene may start producing proteins and neuropeptides that influence emotional behaviors and feelings that may endure a lifetime.
Epigenetic Mechanisms
When infants and children receive care of their mothers or stay-at-home-fathers, these experiences result in epigenetic changes in the activity of genes that influence brain function. Epigenesis can create healthy brains in infants and children with nurturing mothers, but epigeneses can create stifled brain development and abnormalities in brains of infants and children with less than nurturing mothers. In the case of a girl with insecure attachment as an infant and child, she may grow up and start the negative chain all over again. Mistreated children often become poorly performing parents who perpetuate cross-generational cycles of neglect and even abuse.
At birth, only the somatosensory cortex is metabolically highly active. The rest of the neocortex is very much in the process of development and mediated by experience-dependent epigenetic changes. The right cerebral hemisphere comes on board first during the first eighteen months of life. The right hemisphere sustains a more emotional, holistic attitude toward life. Nurturing mothering molds the brain during this period. But poor mother-child interactions interfere with the maturation of the brain and cause poor affect (emotional) regulation, even pathological oversensitivity and of various emotional systems.
Attachment
Early attachment difficulties can result in the attenuation of neural connections between limbic emotional regions and the neocortex. Then limited connections between the neocortex and limbic system may result in subcortical regions of the brain making fewer contributions to the development of the cortex. And because the neocortex inhibits limbic expression, people who have endured attachment problems are often emotionally disinhibited. The cortex has not taught the limbic system to behave.
So some are born with a silver spoon in their mouth, while some are born neck-deep in “it” and spend most of their lives just digging their way out. At eighty-one years old I’ve dug my way out. But I never stop hearing people say I’m different. I recall my aunt saying I’m different and I replied: “We are all different.” And she replied, “But you are really different.”
Rorschach blot
And I am, I’m like a Rorschach blot. People have not encountered anything like it and each eventually come to their own conclusions. And at this point, I take that! No explanations, no more apologies. I accept I am weird, ahem, really different. But I can’t help thinking, you might be too if you had been buried in it from day one.
Self-help books that help:
Total Self-Renewal through Attention Therapies and Open Focus
The Open-Focus Brain: Harnessing the Power of Attention to Heal Mind and Body
