“The silent treatment and stonewalling can have actual effects on the brain. Research indicates that such behaviors are a form of ostracism which activates the anterior cingulate cortex, the same part of the brain that detects physical pain. Being ignored can leave someone feeling injured – literally…”— Shahida Arabi, thoughtcatalog.com
“If you’re an adult and life’s been good to you, and then something bad happens, that sort of injures a little piece of the whole structure. But toxic stress in childhood from abandonment or chronic violence has pervasive effects on the capacity to pay attention, to learn, to see where other people a…”— Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk, sideeffectspublicmedia.org