ABSTRACT
The child deprived of warmth, safety and appropriate maternal care surrenders his autonomy and allows a powerful bestial substitute to dominate his psychic life while his vulnerable human self, subdued and flattened, is condemned to dwell in an emotional wasteland. This chapter highlights that without the opportunity to merge with the goodness of a caring other, these fantasies persist throughout a lifetime and ultimately annihilate the entire self. Research shows that brain development in infancy is mainly experience-dependent. While a nurturing early environment promotes healthy neural development, adverse childhood experiences increase the stress hormone Cortisol to such a critical level that it washes over the child's brain like acid. The legend of the Windigo tells that although the vulnerable novice possessed by the spirit of the monster adopts attributes of the beast and becomes feral in appearance, deep down remnants of his humanity still persist.
