Gunnar – toxic stress

So, when does it become toxic? That depends on the individual because some of us are a little more robust, we have better repair mechanisms. We’re still learning about what that biology of repair mechanisms are about. We have neurotrophic brain growth factors that can fix things and so on. Others are more vulnerable. Many, for various reasons, some of us are better able at turning off stress. 

So there are all those individual differences. Genes are going to be important. We vary. The experiences we have during development that write on our genes and affect how our genes function, are going to influence it. 

But we do know some things that are very, very difficult for most individuals, and certainly most children, to deal with. And repeat after me. We can always, we can all go down the list. They are those kind, and we call these toxic stressors, that is they’re likely to produce toxic stress: maltreatment, physical abuse, sexual abuse, severe neglect, repeated loss of caregivers, bouncing from one foster care home to another, living, growing up in a context of having extreme violence. They’re all the things that we know, and in fact, one good way with young kids to figure this out is, if you’re not growing behaviourally, if you’re falling behind on your developmental milestones, if you’re not physically growing as well, that’s a pretty darn good indication without taking a spit sample, that what you’re seeing is a child who is experiencing chronic stress.  

Because part of the whole stress biology is, influences those things. We put growth on hold. Because we’re trying to survive in the moment. So growth goes on hold. All aspects of growth go on hold to try to survive. And you just don’t develop as well.