Abuse in childhood might scar the brain: the damage is not just emotional, but also physical.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/11/04/242945454/childhood-maltreatment-can-leave-scars-in-the-brain?utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=20131110&utm_source=mostemailed

This is what is going on with several characters in my novels Sky Waves and deluded your sailors, and some of what makes Paulette Tiller vulnerable in my short story ‘Bush-hammer finish’ (published in the autumn issue of The Fiddlehead).