Neurobiological Consequences of Childhood Abuse and Neglect Prof
Neurobiological Consequences of Childhood Abuse and Neglect Prof. dr. Bernet M. Elzinga Section Clinical Psychology Leiden University
Long term psychological effects of childhood abuse and neglect 3 x increased risk to develop depression, with early onset, chronic and severe trajectory, suicidality & poor treatment response Spinhoven et al. , 2010; Norman et al. , 2012; Nanni et al. , 2012
Child Abuse → Psychopathology • How does childhood abuse gets under the skin, to affect risk for later psychopathology? • How does childhood stress incubates in the body, manifesting in psychopathology several decades later? epigenetics brain functioning ? Childhood < 18 jaar Adulthood
Impact of childhood abuse and neglect on brain development Two key developmental stages of neural plasticity: • Early childhood: Fear and Safety learning, -Limbic system • Puberty: Emotion Regulation, -Prefrontal brain regions
I. Fear Learning * * Van Harmelen et al. , 2013, SCAN *
Amygdala response ↑ to faces in adults with reported history of emotional abuse and neglect * * * Van Harmelen et al. , 2013, SCAN ► Pattern consistently observed in (male and female) with depression, anxiety, and healthy controls ► Not explained by psychopathology, gender, nor neuroticism or recent life events
Abused children earlier recognition angry faces Pollak & Kistler, 2002
Amydala activation to faces associated with avoidance of eye contact in neglected children Tottenham et al. , 2011
II. Emotion Regulation * * * in response to social exclusion Van Harmelen et al. , 2013, SCAN
II. Emotion Regulation Impact of Social Exclusion in individuals with history of childhood emotional abuse and neglect Gunther Moor et al, 2011 Self-referential processing (e. g. , rumination) Van Harmelen et al. , 2014, PLo. S ONE
Summary / Implications • Childhood abuse, particular emotional abuse and neglect are most salient risk factors for emotional distress on long-term. • Effects are transmitted not only on conscious level (‘you are a bad child!’), but also on implicit level by means of changes in neural reactivity • In 30%, childhood abuse is transmitted to next generation: family studies and longitudinal studies needed to disentangle nature & nurture • Family interventions (e. g. , during early childhood, but also adolescents with depression) crucial to break vicious cycle
Thank you for your Attention p p University of Leiden Prof. dr. Ph. Spinhoven Drs. A. van Harmelen (Ph. D) Prof. dr. E. Crone Prof. dr. N. van der Wee p Free University Prof. Dr. B. W. J. H. Penninx Prof. dr. D. Veltman p University of Groningen Prof. dr. A. Aleman
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