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A neuronal analogy to allergy is overreacting, when the individual cannot handle a certain situation. It occurs more frequently in infants than in adults. When confronted with a threatening situation with which it has not yet learned to cope, an infant is subject to information-overflow by massive stimulation. The child enters an emotional state of frustration, fear and anger. Since he cannot handle the unfamiliar or overwhelming stimulation, he resorts to primitive means for rejection and avoidance. In animals any behaviour related to fight or flight is called agonistic behaviour, a term which in this case applies to humans as well. Every normal child will develop neurotic fears and a state of anxiety if he has met with threatening and stressful events, while being insufficiently protected by parental bonding. Agonistic behaviour as observed in children consists of aggression, tantrums, shouting, when motivated by the tendency to 'fight'. In the case of 'flight' it consists of submission, withdrawal and weeping. If agonistic responses are of short duration and not frequent, recovery to well-differentiated coping behaviour will likely occur. If however the agonistic episodes are reinforced by rewarding effects, they may become 'habits' and this is detrimental the development of the child's adaptation and defence faculties. A person who has suffered frequent regressions in early childhood can be damaged for life. It is a source of what used to be called neurotic maladjustment. The next paragraph gives more details how the road to normal resiliency may become blocked.
6.5.3 Habitual regression in the LAD and NAD: allergy and neurosis
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