Maté, a Canadian physician and author of Scattered Minds about ADD, spoke with host Amy Goodman about the societal corruption of the conditions for normal brain development in children. Too many are neglected or abused, increasing the number of hyperaggressive children, and in turn, adults.

During critical years of brain development Maté argues that neglect of children by loving parental caregivers who are working two or more jobs or simply not emotionally present for their children because of their own depression or stress from working deprives the children of developing a moral sense. Stressed fathers do not support mothers. Normal childhood development requires non-stressed, emotionally available adults.

The absence of a bond with adults can lead to inadequate development of the prefrontal cortex affecting the ability to show empathy, insight or a sense of social responsibility. Without emotional caregivers available, Thus environments account for the quality of brain development in children and young teens. The reliance on parents and environments reflects our social nature. Contrary to the pseudo-Darwinist (Ayn Rand-type) arguments that humans develop solely as individuals, biology  shows that we need parents, extended families and communities surrounding us to be fully developed in a healthy social way. In other words, bullies remain emotionally immature and incredibly cruel and insensitive toward others. There could be a biological explanation.

The work of Robert Hare with serial killers, psychopaths, suggests too a link between inadequately developed prefrontal cortical areas of the brain can account for seemingly inexplicable evilness.

Anthes, in her Boston Globe report, highlighted the research of Martin Teicher that found verbal abuse by parents was as psychologically damaging as physical abuse. Subsequently he found that kids suffered more depression, anxiety and other psychiatric disorders when bullied by peers than by parents. Teicher said in a 2002 Scientific American article, “Stress sculpts the brain to exhibit various antisocial, though adaptive, behaviors. Whether it comes in the form of physical, emotional or sexual trauma or through exposure to warfare, famine or pestilence, stress can set off a ripple of hormonal changes that permanently wire a child’s brain to cope with a malevolent world.” Teicher’s 2010 fMRI study revealed differences in mylienation of the corpus callosum (the tissue connecting the two brain hemispheres) for kids abused by peers.

Tracy Vaillancourt’s work, also featured by Anthes, found higher levels of cortisol in boys bullied by peers. Too much cortisol can damage brain structures such as the hippocampus that is involved with learning and memory. Paradoxically, girls had abnormally low levels of cortisol. This may reflect living a chronically stressed life.

Cortisol research is burgeoning. In one study, high cortisol levels were associated with feelings of shame and threats to one’s self-image. [Acute threat to the social self: Shame, social self-esteem, and cortisol activity. by T. Gruenewald, et al. Psychomatic Medicine, 2004, 66, 915-924.]

The Boston Globe’s Anthes also described Daniel Peterson’s research with stressed rats demonstrated the impact of bullying by a dominant other resulted in hippocampal damage. New neurons were produced, but in stressed rats, a high percentage of cells died prematurely.

In a 2009 study that deliberately stressed rats that got “stuck in a rut” due to cortical and mid-brain structural changes in response to the stress, researchers were able to reverse the effects. Robert Sapolsky, stress guru, considered this study an important linkage between the behavioral malaise stressed people feel and the underlying neurological explanations for it. [Chronic stress causes frontostriatal reorganization and affects decision making. by E. Dias-Ferreira, et al. Science, 2009, 325, 621-625.]

Finally, we now know that stress interferes with cellular replication that keeps us young. DNA replication is prevented when the protective tips of the chromosomes, the telomeres, fray. 2009 Nobel Prize winner in Medicine and Physiology, Elizabeth Blackburn at the University of California, San Francisco shared credit for the discovery of telomeres. In a study of chronically stressed mothers who had reared children with special needs for 15 years, the shortening of their telomeres represented an average shortening of their life expectancy by 9 to 12 years. [Accelerated telomere shortening in response to life stress. by E.S. Epel, E.H. Blackburn, J. Lin, et al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), 2004, 101(49), 17312-17315.] So much progress has been made using this cellular marker as predictor of the aging process, Blackburn and her team are developing a commercial process for public use.

We’ll alert site visitors to the latest in relevant neuro and biologically-related research as it surfaces.

North America’s expert on psychopathy is Robert Hare. The documentary, The Corporation, explores the premise that businesses behave maliciously and without conscience. This DVD is recommended viewing.

Hare draws the analogy between people and corporations.

- superficial, style over substance
- grandiosity, we’re number one, none better
- manipulative, that’s what PR is for
- lacks empathy, hey it’s “just business” to rationalize cutthroat competition
- lacks remorse, anything goes if not caught, bonuses after economic crash
- does not accept responsibility for actions taken
- impulsive and reckless, especially in the absence of regulations
- focus on short-term, quarterly stockholder gains are all that matter
- poor behavioral control, irrational and quick to rage
- ignores consequences of their actions on others (the climate, workers, economy)
- actions harm others, anti-social

Read his essay on the topic.