Psychologists, neurologists and psychiatrists have opted for the relationship between child abuse and its effects on the brain, many psychologists say that psychological treatment should ignore data from different disciplines that defend the organic aetiology of disorders, that organic aspects are not the responsibility of psychologists. treatment.
However, it is our duty to have as much information as possible, for example, while several studies state that people who have experienced child violence may have changes in their motor skills, this information can be very useful in understanding certain behaviors.
- The path to independent living probably requires a different path for people with organic or neurochemical changes.
- For example.
- We know that many studies use data on the assumption that people who have been abused and abused in childhood have changes in brain development.
Several studies over the past decade have studied the effects of child abuse on the DNA and brains of victims, but these studies do not conclude whether these are irreversible consequences, as this would be more in the context of further intervention.
We will review the most important research from the last decade to the last study, published in 2019, which examines the integration of all the data obtained so far on the subject.
In March 2009, a team at McGill University in Montreal published an article in Science and Life on the genetic impact of sexual abuse on children and concluded that child sexual abuse is associated with an increased risk of depression in adulthood.
Far from being purely psychological, this fragility is also genetic, precisely epigenetic, as the McGill University team discovered after studying the brains of 24 suicide victims, 12 of whom had been sexually abused as children.
These recent studies have shown a decrease in the expression of the NR3C1 gene, which is related to stress response, an abnormality that explains vulnerability, and a greater tendency to suicide.
We knew the environment could influence our genes, but this surprising study shows that trauma can also alter our genetic identity by directly altering DNA.
In 2012, Professor Alain Malafosse, from the department of psychiatry team at the University of Geneva School of Medicine, demonstrated that child abuse can leave a legacy in DNA.
Studies have shown that stress caused by child abuse causes a genetic mutation (epigenetic modification) in the glucocorticoid receptor gene promoter (NR3C1), which acts on the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis.
This axis intervenes in the stress management process and, when it changes, disrupts stress management in adulthood, which can lead to the development of psychopathologies, such as personality disorder.
The control mechanisms of brain stress can be permanently modified in cases of repeated abuse in childhood, so that trauma is part of the genome of all our cells.
In 2013, a group of scientists was led by Professor Christine Heim, director of the Institute of Medical Psychology at Charity University Hospital in Berlin, and Professor Jens Pruessner, director of the Center for the Study of Aging at the same university.
In the study, MRI images were used to examine 51 adult women who were victims of various forms of abuse. Scientists measured the thickness of the cerebral cortex, the structure responsible for processing sensations.
The results showed that there is a correlation between certain forms of abuse and the thickness of the cortex, particularly in regions of the brain that are involved in the perception of abuse.
Dr. Martin Teicher and his colleagues obtained MRI images from 265 adults between the ages of 18 and 25, based on youth responses to a variety of instruments, such as the TAI interview and the CTQ questionnaire on childhood trauma. of them had suffered physical, emotional or sexual abuse.
The researchers compared the MRI images of the participants who were abused with those of the 142 participants who had not been abused.
The analysis showed that the abuse was related to changes in the architecture of the cortical network, mainly from the left anterior cingular (in charge of emotional regulation and impulses), from the anterior right insula (subjective perception of emotions) and from the right. precondition (self-centered thinking).
Increasing the activation of the previous insula suggests creating an irrational and uncontrollable desire to use drugs without thinking about the consequences.
Violence also affects memory, attention and self-know-how. Due to the change in the medial frontal convolution region, people who have experienced or witnessed violence may:
Regions that are part of the monitoring of internal emotional consciousness become highly concentrated centers of activity and may have a greater influence on behavior; At the same time, regions that control impulses lose connections and are left to less centralized work within the network.
These changes may serve as the basis for an increased risk of drug use and other mental health disorders.