The Neuroscience of Stress:

Healthy brain development and the negative impact of stress

Brain Development

Experience causes our neural networks to connect with each other. The more we do something, the more efficient that particular network becomes; this causes the neuron to be myelinated with protein and causing the brain's response to a particular incident or context to quicken.

In most instances, this serves the evolutionary purpose of promoting healthy development. However, when a child has experienced pervasive stress and trauma, the brain's response will have resulted in maladaptive neural pathways being activated, which, over time can be more difficult to change.

3 Levels of Brain Development

As can be seen in the fantastic infographic from Beacon House, the Brain develops from the bottom up, with all information being processed through the brainstem. Any experience will be processed through this primitive part of the brain, meaning that pupils may exhibit reactions to incidents that they may not even recognise or understand (See Bessel van der Kolk's superb book 'The Body Keeps the Score' for further reading)

At The Key, we understand that due to the stressors faced by many of our pupils, both now and historically, they may have impaired functioning in specific areas at these three tiers. We emphasise the importance of building staff skills promoting emotional development and recognising the importance of sensory considerations as a necessary precursor to developing higher order executive functioning skills, such as working memory, self-regulation, problem solving and other such meta-cognitive skills.

Promoting Health Brain Development: 3 Key Factors

Attachment

At The Key we recognise the importance of the main caregiver, whether a parent, grandparent or other adult. Despite that a great deal of attachment is developed during the early years, we still have an emphasis on supporting parents and pupils with their relationships, to maintain a positive and reciprocal bond.

2. Relationships

At The Key, we operate within a relational framework. Underpinning all our practice is the development and maintenance of positive relationships with pupils, parents, external community partners and with each other, allowing for as many adults as possible to positive impact our pupils lives. As Dr Bruce Perry states:

'What works best is anything that increases the quality and number of relationships in a child’s life. People, not programs, change people’

3. Repetition

At The Key, we understand that many pupils will have developed maladaptive pathways and that this will be underpinning many of the unproductive behaviours that they exhibit. Thus, interventions and policies are developed to recognise the need for relational opportunities that are both consistent and persistent.

Repetition is fundamental to effectively re-wire pupils' neural networks, to foster more adaptive pathways and behaviour. We understand that interventions with specialist professionals are often necessary and a really important way to help support young people, but that most the effective driver for change is a systemic approach. Dr Bruce Perry again:

‘Therapeutic moments are seconds long, not 45 minutes a week’

The Impact of Stress on the Brain

'Flipping our lid'

At The Key, we emphasise the important of understanding the scientific principles underpinning heightened behaviour, so we can de-personalise and rationalise what we are observing, as much as possible, to best help support the young person. The notion of 'flipping your lid', associated with executive dysregulation (a reduction in the effectiveness of regulation and problem solving ability), is an excellent method to describe the experience of the stress response system to both pupils and staff; we believe that understanding what is occurring in your body is the first step to developing coping techniques.

Fight, Flight or Freeze

When faced with stress, the brain very quickly assesses the situation to see if it has the coping resources to effectively deal with the experience (See Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). If it deems that it does not, then it will enter three possible states: fight, flight or freeze, reverting back to our mammalian, primitive, brain as described above

When such a stress is experienced, the brain activates the HPA axis, which releases stress hormones (i.e. cortisol). This causes symptoms such as shallow breathing, increased muscle tension and increased muscle tension. Unfortunately, pervasive activation of the stress response results in cell atrophy and impaired cognitive functioning through a process known as Allostatic Load (Compas, 2006).

At The Key, we recognise that this process is not rational, but a physiological process that is activated instinctively by the brain. We also appreciate that pupils who have experienced significant stress are likely to be permanently hyper alert and thus will unconsciously activate their stress-response systems with only a relatively small cue.

We pride ourselves on offering individual interventions that will effectively provide the pupil with the appropriate 'tools' for their 'toolbox', thus allowing them to more effectively cope with stressful situations and reduce the pernicious impact of their body's stress response system.