Hippocampus regulates motivation, emotion, learning, and memory and where short-term memories are turned into long-term memories. These are then stored elsewhere in the brain. Research has shown that nerve cells continue to develop throughout adulthood. The hippocampus is one of the few places in the brain new nerve cells are generated. In many articles I have read, the hippocampus could be described as the "heart of the brain”. Chronic stress releases cortisol, a stress hormone which can damage and affect the growth of the hippocampus. During times of stress, the body reacts by secreting stress hormones into the bloodstream. Stress can cause unhealthy changes in certain brain areas which can cause long-term damage. The longer you are in an emotionally abusive environment, the more deterioration of the hippocampus. Emotional abuse is devastating and can often be more traumatic than physical wounds. The inability to experience feelings and manage your emotions leaves emotional survivors susceptible to emotional outbursts or “dulled” responses. Both forms of abuse resulted in less connection between different parts of the brain and interfering with the ability respond in healthy ways and fosters hyper-reactivity. When the hippocampus is small it can make it more difficult for a child to process and deal with traumatic events, which in turn may raise both stress and cortisol levels that cause even more damage. Studies show that toxic stress can have an adverse impact on brain architecture. Severe, chronic emotional neglect and abuse, especially during early, sensitive periods of brain development, the regions of the brain involved in fear, anxiety, and impulsive responses may overproduce neural connections while those regions dedicated to reasoning, planning, and behavioral control may produce fewer neural connections.
https://blogs.psychcentral.com/liberation/2017/10/long-term-narcissistic-abuse-can-cause-brain-damage/
https://nypost.com/2017/11/02/brain-scans-reveal-how-badly-emotional-abuse-damages-kids/
