Posted by violette on September 21, 2010, at 13:07:48
In reply to Re: Neurobiological Consequences of Child Maltreatment » violette, posted by SLS on September 21, 2010, at 12:41:26
Phillipa, it load slowly, i think, due to the graphics...You might like this one too Scott...thought it's about impulse control-emotional dysregulation-alot of people have been talking about that lately.
BTW-Attachment Theory is sort of a precursor to this stuff....Maybe someone here could interpret all the technical conclusions???
Childhood Abuse, Brain Development and Impulsivity
Our discoveries that abused patients have diminished right-left hemisphere integration and a smaller corpus callosum suggest an intriguing model for the emergence of impulsivity. With less integrated hemispheres, they may shift into an emotional right hemisphere state during periods of stress or distress. In this state they may be less able to use logic and reason to regulate their behavior.
We have proposed that early childhood maltreatment acts as a severe stressor, that
produces a cascade of physiological and neurohumoral responses which leads to enduring
alterations in the patterns of brain development, and that alterations in brain function set the stage for the emergence of psychiatric disorders.Physical, sexual, and psychological trauma in childhood may lead to psychiatric difficulties that show up in childhood, adolescence, or adulthood.
A major consequence is deficient impulse control, which can manifest in a panoply of addictive, self-destructive and abusive behaviors.
Early stress programs our stress hormone systems to have a more exaggerated and prolonged response to subsequent stressors.
We are programmed by adverse early experience to have an enhanced cortisol, norepinephrine/adrenaline and vasopressin response (and decreased oxytocin response) to subsequent stressors.
Recent research suggests that oxytocin is a critical factor in affiliative love, maintenance of monogamous relationships, and normal non-sexual social interactions. Oxytocin treatments increase social contact in several animal species. Repeated social exposure is accompanied by the release of oxytocin. Exposure to early stress produces a life-long increase in levels of vasopressin mRNA and diminished levels of oxytocin mRNA in the hypothalamus of rats.
We have theorized that if early stress alters levels of vasopressin and oxytocin mRNA in humans in the same manner, it may cause early-stress exposed adults to suffer from enhanced sexual arousal, diminished capacity for sexual fulfillment, deficient commitment to a single partner, and reduced capacity to experience stress reduction from non-sexual social contact.
Exposure of the developing brain to stress hormones exerts consequences by affecting gene expression, myelination, neural morphology, neurogenesis and synaptogenesis.
http://www.mclean.harvard.edu/pdf/research/clinicalunit/dbrp/mteicher-talks/MASOC_MATSA_meeting.pdf
poster:violette
thread:963247
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100917/msgs/963264.html