r/science • u/Miserable_Phase_2519 • 1d ago

Neuroscience A new study suggests that growing up in a war zone changes how a child's attachment-related anxiety and avoidance connect to their brain networks, indicating that the developing brain may calibrate itself to adapt to an unpredictable environment.

https://www.psypost.org/childhood-war-exposure-might-shift-the-neural-correlates-of-attachment-related-anxiety-and-avoidance/
418 Upvotes

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u/AnalysisFalse3565 1d ago

Well, that’s just trauma symptoms and how they could shape up in relationships.

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u/Memory_Less 1d ago

This is the pivotal question given some of the stats about PTSD. I couldn’t help but wonder what Ukrainian society will look like given the pervasive trauma.

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u/Boring-Philosophy-46 22h ago

Probably a lot like postwar Europe and especially eastern Europe, given the pervasive trauma then. Like 80% of casualties were in the east at the time, both civilian and combat losses. 

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u/Feychilde 1d ago

Sometimes it's not just trauma. Sometimes folks can learn new things. I've seen where people refuse to examine experiences. Also, some develop maladaptive tendencies.

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u/Pao_Did_NothingWrong 1d ago

Both of those things are second order effects of trauma - avoidance of processes that have contained triggers in the past.

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u/Feychilde 1d ago

Okeydoke. Thanks

11

u/Embarrassed-Wave3237 1d ago

What I find most interesting is the idea that the brain may adapt to the environment it grows up in rather than simply developing in a fixed way. If unpredictability becomes a normal part of childhood, it makes sense that systems involved in relationships and threat processing could become calibrated differently. It also raises an important question how stable are these adaptations later in life, and can a safer,more predictable environment actually change them over time?