Changes in Brain in Adoptive Children May Make Strangers, Friends
A disturbing new study has found that the brains of children, whose bonds with their moms early in the their lives were disrupted, show changes because of it. And this is important for adoptive parents to know. According to newswise.com, "Children who experience profound neglect have been found to be more prone to a behavior known as 'indiscriminate friendliness,' characterized by an inappropriate willingness to approach adults, including strangers." The studies were done on children in orphanages or other institutions before they were adopted. The research found that these children "show(ed) similar responses to their adoptive mother and to strangers in a brain structure called the amygdala." Thhis part of the brain is associated with emotion. But the good news is, for children never raised in an institutional setting before adoption, the amygdala is far more active in response to the adoptive mother, newswise.com reports. "The early rela...