Perry (1997) outlined the role parents play in setting up the neuro circuitry that helps
children regulate their responses to stress. As mentioned previously, children who were physically abused early on develop brains that are exquisitely attuned to danger. At the
slightest threat their hearts race, their stress hormones surge while their brains anxiously
track the non-verbal cues that might signal the next attack. Because the brain develops in
sequence with more primitive structures stabilising their connections first, early abuse is
particularly damaging.