system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Eli5: Why are some things about our brains/psyche malleable while others are not?

For example we can all learn how to become proficient at a skill, while we cannot entirely suppress the effects of emotional abuse.

Im just wondering where the limit for our adaptability is?
gpt
Adding a response is always easier than removing a response because accessing the response reinforces it.

Basically, when you are learning a response you are cutting a trail through a forest, each time you walk it the trail becomes a little more clear and a little easier to walk.

When you're trying to "unlearn" a response you're trying to regrow the forest over the path. It will slowly fade over time but every time you walk the trail to see how it is fading you're reinforcing the trail.