Safety affects, in a significant manner, the way we interact with our surroundings—from the very beginning. The regulatory circuits of the brain are largely formed in the first three years of life. Then, as a child grows and the prefrontal cortex matures throughout childhood and adolescence, much depends on whether he has experienced a general sense of safety. If not, he has to remain in a heightened state of alertness and anxiety to watch for danger and try to stay safe—on his own. He must spend large amounts of resources being hypervigilant, scanning the environment, or even his caregivers’
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