Depression tends to shrink this region; all long-lasting effective methods of treating depression, from electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) to medications (and, presumably, talk therapy, though this can’t be studied in rats and we can’t cut open human brains to check), lead to improved neural growth in the area. Severe stress in children, in fact, is more likely to lead to depression or other diagnoses than it is to cause diagnosable PTSD.
