O - RIGINS OF V IOLENCE AND STRATEGIES FOR CHANGE

19 SECURITY THE CONCEPT OF ATTACHMENT The discussion around the physiology of the brain is worth examining for we should not underestimate the role that the structure and chemistry of the brain plays in determining the degree and sites of violence in our society. [...] Understanding the dynamics of brain chemistry and the brain’s response to environmental factors leads us to the issue of what the brain requires, particularly the brains of children, in order to develop in a way which will make us the least prone to violence. [...] Strong connections are made in the healthy brain between the prefrontal cortex and the limbic brain, that is between the emotional and reasoning part of the brain. [...] And now we have enough physical evidence and understanding of 26 biochemistry and neurology to know that the way we treat children when they are young affects the development of their brain and body chemistry over the long-term and is evident in behaviours such as addiction and violence and a lack of empathy and compassion. [...] We will recall that the limbic part of our brain is responsible for emotions while the prefrontal cortex developed later and is responsible for reasoning and the ability to plan for the future and that there is a connection between the two which grows over the course of time and is not fully developed until the third decade.