The Effects Of Abuse And Related Adverse Experiences On Childhood : A Convergence Of Evidence From Neurobiology And Epidemiology

Childhood maltreatment is a prevalent problem through out the world. As a child grows and matures the brain continues to develop according its experiences. During this time sensitive periods of development for different areas of the brain. A few areas that are of interest are the stress-influenced areas, which are at an increased risk for developmental problems when exposed to maltreatment. The extra stress from such exposures can influence abnormalities throughout the brain, which have been linked to structure changes with in the corpus callosum, anterior cingulate, dorsolateral prefrontal, orbitofrontal cortex, and hippocampus, amygdala, and cerebellum, as well as changes to stress related hormone systems. These structural changes are associated with an increased risk of psychopathology and other life long educational and physiological risk.

Childhood trauma is not just widely prevalent but also has pervasive implications for diverse areas of functioning (van der Kolk, 2005). However, research indicates that childhood trauma assessment is often prevented by the social taboos associated with such events as neglect, abuse and exposure to violence yet it is important to acknowledge this. The Adverse Childhood Experiences Studies indicate that there is a very strong relationship between early adverse childhood experiences and other long-term effects such as depression, attempts of suicide, abusing substances like alcohol, cigarette or drugs, domestic violence, reduced physical activity, obesity, sexual promiscuity and sexually transmitted diseases. They also predispose people to develop physical ailments such as heart disease, diabetes,

In the immediate, as well as long-term aftermath of exposure to trauma, children are at risk of developing significant emotional and behavior difficulties (CWIG, 2012). The most damaging types of trauma include early physical and sexual abuse, neglect, emotional/psychological abuse, exposure to domestic violence and other forms of child maltreatment (Hoch, 2009). Research has shown that children that are exposed to these types of trauma will experience developmental delays including language and verbal processing. Also, they will have risk of poor physiological and psychosocial functioning, and will be vulnerable to emotional and behavioral dysregulation disorders, thus, leading to an increase risk of poor outcomes including substance abuse, suicidality, teen pregnancy and paternity, criminal activity, and revictimization (Hoch, 2009).

Child abuse is a widespread problem in America and beyond. Every year more than 3 million reports of child abuse are made in the United States involving more than 6 million children(1a). For many years, experts believed that the negative effects of child abuse, such as emotional problems, flashbacks to traumatic events, and even learning problems, were psychological phenomena only, able to be cured with therapy. Now, however, beliefs are being changed with the help of tools such as MRI imaging, able to detect actual changes in brain anatomy, and it appears that what doesn't kill you may still permanently weaken you, at least when it comes to child abuse.

The ACE Study was designed to answer the question: “If risk factors for disease, disability, and early mortality are not randomly distributed, what early life influences precede the adoption or development of them (preventchildabuse.org)?” Adverse Childhood Experience does not evoke preconceived notions or biases about the perpetrators or victims of child abuse, domestic violence, or persons with mental health or substance abuse issues. The term “adverse” implies stress. However, the biologic stress response is largely responsible for the negative impact of ACEs on brain development. “Experiences” was the term chosen rather than “Environment” because the latter term can imply exposure to environmental toxins. As framed by the study, “Childhood” refers to the first 18 years of life (preventchildabuse.org).

The human brain contains specific neurochemical systems that create feelings in us. Over many studies, scientists

Gaskill, Richard L. and Perry, Bruce D. (2012) “Child Sexual Abuse, Traumatic Experiences, and Their Impact on the Developing Brain” Handbook of Child Sexual Abuse: Identification, Assessment, and Treatment. Online.

This neural architecture is what allows a person to feel the pain or sadness of another and is a crucial signal that can motivate altruistic behavior. Additionally, humans have to ability to intentionally adopt the perspective of another and essentially image what they are feeling. In another fMRI study individuals were given a short story to read that would elicit an emotion, this resulted in similar results as the previous study where the individual’s brain showed increased activity in the regions that are associated with both emotional processing and pain in both self and

Research shows that many brain and hormonal changes may occur as a result of early, prolonged trauma, and contribute to troubles with learning, memory, and regulating emotions. Combined with a disruptive, abusive home environment, these brain and hormonal changes may contribute to severe behavioral difficulties (“Post-Traumatic” 1).

Fayard, J. V., Roberts, B. W., Robins, R. W., & Watson, D. (2012). Uncovering the Affective

The population observed consisted of 27 patients with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (byFTD) and 33 healthy older adults who acted as the control group. Comparable to FTLD patients, people with byFTD experience disruptions in self-conscious emotion that has targeted neural regions crucial in emotional functioning. Once again researchers sought to investigate the neural correlates of self-conscious emotional reactivity by using the same physiological reactivity measurements with additional add-ons (i.e. respiration depth, and finger temperature). As for the emotional behavior measurement, investigators videotaped the participant’s behavior. Specifically, participants were asked to engage in a karaoke task, which they later had to watch as a measure for embarrassment. The non-self-conscious emotional reactivity was measured through asking the participants to view a sad video clip. Prior to the experiment, participants were required to partake in a clinical evaluation which included: structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a clinical interview, neurological examination, an assessment of dementia severity, and a neuropsychological evaluation. “Using Freesurfer to quantify regional brain volumes from structural magnetic resonance

Little Sarah throws a fit because she does NOT want to part with the new barbie they bought for her friend’s party. As her mom her mom assures her that giving is better than receiving, the scowl of Sarah’s face conveys serious doubt. But, what if there really is scientific truth to the sentiment surrounding giving vs. recieving? New research from the Department of Economics at the University of Zurich investigated how the brain area produces a pleasant feeling whenever one does something “nice” for someone. The results explaining this “warm glow” help us understand a

Child abuse is a term impacted by copious multidimensional and interactive factors that relate to its origins and effects upon a child's developing capacities and which may act as a catalyst to broader, longer-term implications for adulthood. Such maltreatment may be of a sexual, physical, emotional or neglectful nature, each form holding a proportion of shared and abuse-specific psychological considerations (Mash & Wolfe, 2005). Certainly in terms of the effects / impairments of abuse, developmental factors have been identified across all classifications of child abuse, leading to a comparably greater risk of emotional / mental health problems in adult life within the general population

The aim of the present study was to investigate which hemisphere is specialised for the perception of emotion. It was hypothesised that participants will judge chimeric faces with smile presented in the left visual field as happier more often than chimeric faces with the smile presented in the right visual field. Twenty-six psychology students were asked to judge chimeric faces with one half being a smiling expression and the other half with a neutral expression. The images were presented in their left and right visual field. Over 28 experimental trials the participants were asked to judge which face they thought looked happier. The percentage of chimeric faces judged as happier for both left and right visual field was recorded. The hypothesis was supported: chimeric faces with smile presented in the left visual field as happier more often than chimeric faces with the smile presented in the right visual field.

Chapter 2 is centered on the early attempts to identify the brain’s components of emotions. Key researchers that are discussed are a Cornell neuroanatomist, James Papez, and aforementioned physician and neuroscientist Paul MacLean, who worked at Yale and the National Institutes of Mental Health. Together, this pair of researchers conducted seminal medial temporal lobe lesion experiments. The resulting idea was that the emotional brain is composed of a set of interconnected structures in the core of the brain. MacLean dubbed these structures as the “limbic system”. The function of the limbic system and it relationship to emotion was widely debated by many researchers.