Childhood Trauma Leaves Its Mark On the Brain. - Polidicks

[TABLE="class: outer_border, width: 800, align: left"] [TR] [TD][TABLE="width: 640, align: center"] [TR] [TD][h2]Childhood Trauma Leaves Its Mark On the Brain.[/h2][B]It is well known that violent adults often have a history of childhood psychological trauma. Some of these individuals exhibit very real, physical alterations in a part of the brain called the orbitofrontal cortex. Yet a direct link between such early trauma and neurological changes has been difficult to find, until now.[/B][/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD][TABLE="width: 500, align: center"] [TR] [TD]Publishing in the January 15 edition of Translational Psychiatry, EPFL Professor Carmen Sandi and team demonstrate for the first time a correlation between psychological trauma in pre-adolescent rats and neurological changes similar to those found in violent humans. "This research shows that people exposed to trauma in childhood don't only suffer psychologically, but their brain also gets altered," explains Sandi, Head of EPFL's Laboratory of Behavioral Genetics, Director of the Brain Mind Institute, and a member of the National Centers for Competence in Research SYNAPSY. "This adds an additional dimension to the consequences of abuse, and obviously has scientific, therapeutic and social implications." The researchers were able to unravel the biological foundations of violence using a cohort of male rats exposed to psychologically stressful situations when young. After observing that these experiences led to aggressive behavior when the rats reached adulthood, they examined what was happening in the animals' brains to see if the traumatic period had left a lasting mark. "In a challenging social situation, the orbitofrontal cortex of a healthy individual is activated in order to inhibit aggressive impulses and to maintain normal interactions," explains Sandi. "But in the rats we studied, we noticed that there was very little activation of the orbitofrontal cortex. This, in turn, reduces their ability to moderate their negative impulses. This reduced activation is accompanied by the overactivation of the amygdala, a region of the brain that's involved in emotional reactions." Other researchers who have studied the brains of violent human individuals have observed the same deficit in orbitofrontal activation and the same corresponding reduced inhibition of aggressive impulses. "It's remarkable; we didn't expect to find this level of similarity," says Sandi. The scientists also measured changes in the expression of certain genes in the brain. They focused on genes known to be involved in aggressive behavior for which there are polymorphisms (genetic variants) that predispose carriers to an aggressive attitude, and they looked at whether the psychological stress experienced by the rats caused a modification in the expression of these genes. "We found that the level of MAOA gene expression increased in the prefrontal cortex," says Sandi. This alteration was linked to an epigenetic change; in other words, the traumatic experience ended up causing a long-term modification of this gene's expression. Finally, the researchers tested the efficacy of an MAOA gene inhibitor, in this case an anti-depressant, to see if it could reverse the rise in aggression induced by juvenile stress, which it did. Going forward, the team will explore treatments for reversing physical changes in the brain, and above all, attempt to shed light on whether some people are more vulnerable to being effected by trauma based on their genetic makeup. "This research could also reveal the possible ability of antidepressants -- an ability that's increasingly being suspected -- to renew cerebral plasticity," says Sandi.[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [/TD] [TD][IMG]http://images.sciencedaily.com/2013/01/130115090215.jpg[/IMG] [I]Peripuberty stressed rats show increased activation in the amygdala (involved in emotional processing) and blunted activation in the orbitofrontal cortex (involved in social decision-making). (Credit: EPFL)[/I][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD][B]Journal: [/B] C Márquez, et al. Peripuberty stress leads to abnormal aggression, altered amygdala and orbitofrontal reactivity and increased prefrontal MAOA gene expression. Translational Psychiatry, 2013; 3 (1): e216 DOI:[URL]http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/tp.2012.144[/URL][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD][B]SOURCE: [/B] [URL]http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130115090215.htm[/URL][/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

I'd love to shove this in face of all the assholes who have the attitude of "Eh, childhood trauma. You just have to grow up and get over it." [quote] EPFL Professor Carmen Sandi [/quote] Carmen Sandiego has stolen our lab research!

no shit

This is kind of old news...

[QUOTE=ScoutKing;39235390]This is kind of old news...[/QUOTE] [quote]Yet a direct link between such early trauma and neurological changes has been difficult to find, until now.[/quote] Doesn't sound like old news to me.

[QUOTE=Boxbot219;39235496]Doesn't sound like old news to me.[/QUOTE] It's alright, some people just have no fucking clue on how science works, on why we need it, or about the correlation/causation fallacy inherent to our nature.

Explains why my dad is such a bipolar abusive asshole. His father tried to kill his mom and left him when he was 4. My sorta-grandpa was a terrible, dark man.

[QUOTE=Boxbot219;39235496]Doesn't sound like old news to me.[/QUOTE] All this is, is proof to a old theory. (technically more proof, there have already been a host of experiments) go take a couple of psychology courses, this concept isn't something new. Get with the times kids. Electroshock therapy is where it is at.

[QUOTE=Omali;39235032]I'd love to shove this in face of all the assholes who have the attitude of "Eh, childhood trauma. You just have to grow up and get over it." Carmen Sandiego has stolen our lab research![/QUOTE] Funnily enough I was thinking about this last night. I've never seen anything 'traumatic' in the sense of a guy getting splattered by a bus in front of me, but I was bullied horribly as a kid... hell, even into highschool I was bullied too, probably until my last year or two (so pretty much I was bullied my entire childhood come to think about it) when I finally realised that I'm fucking awesome and nobody was going to stand in my way. Sometimes it was physical, sometimes it was emotional and psychological, but looking back on it I wouldn't change a thing. I'm a stronger, better person now because of it. At the time I wasn't. At the time it sucked, I hated life, everybody was a cunt, I wanted things to change etc, but looking back on it I'm honestly glad I went through all of the shit I did because it's made me into the great person I am today. I'd imagine there's a whole host of things that go into determining whether or not a person can just 'get over' trauma, like the type of trauma, the type of mindset of the individual in question, the support they get from friends and family, etc.

[QUOTE=ScoutKing;39235390]This is kind of old news...[/QUOTE] there's always this guy in every science news thread