Childhood trauma
The tragedy of child abuse is written in the brain: Dr Naguib Mechawar studies the brains of people with mental illness – including those who have died by suicide. Dr Mechawar also collects background information on the people in an attempt to identify the biological underpinnings of major depression and suicide. “We were able to show changes at the molecular level… in victims of child abuse and trauma decades after the abuse,” he says. He found a decrease in nerve insulation – called myelin – that helps protect neuron communication in the brain “There is a lasting consequence of child abuse on the state of myelination,” he explains. This may help explain why abuse survivors struggle with anxiety, aggression, impulse control and psychiatric disorders like depression. This doesn’t mean child abuse is indelible. Research has shown that some people can overcome these challenges.
Porn
In one study, men who watched a lot of porn had a decreased grey brain matter in areas related to reward and motivation. The more they watched, the smaller the volume. “This could mean that regular consumption of pornography dulls the reward system,” says scientist in the developmental psychology research area, Dr Simone Kühn, in a news release. “We therefore assume that subjects with high pornography consumption require ever stronger stimuli to reach the same reward level.”
Meditation
In a study of 100 people published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, researchers compared brains scans of meditators and non-meditators and found that meditation seemed to preserve crucial grey matter in numerous brain regions – compared to the brains of non-meditators.
Find out how walking meditation can improve your mental health.
