Quote:
Originally Posted by SoNotHer
Abuse May Alter Child's Brain Activity
FRIDAY, Dec. 9 (HealthDay News) -- Children who are abused or exposed to family violence have changes in brain activity similar to those seen in combat veterans, a new study finds. The brains of these children become increasingly "tuned" for identifying possible sources of danger, said U.K. researchers who used functional imaging to monitor brain activity.
When the study authors showed pictures of angry faces to children with a history of abuse, the children's brains showed increased activity in the anterior insula and amygdala, which are involved in detecting threat and anticipating pain. These changes don't indicate brain damage but are the brain's way of adapting to a challenging or dangerous environment, study author Eamon McCrory, of University College London, explained. The study appears in the Dec. 6 issue of the journal Current Biology.
"Enhanced reactivity to a biologically salient threat cue such as anger may represent an adaptive response for these children in the short term, helping keep them out of danger," McCrory said in a journal news release. "However, it may also constitute an underlying neurobiological risk factor increasing their vulnerability to later mental health problems, and particularly anxiety."
The findings are important because of the large numbers of children who are exposed to family violence. "This underlines the importance of taking seriously the impact for a child of living in a family characterized by violence. Even if such a child is not showing overt signs of anxiety or depression, these experiences still appear to have a measurable effect at the neural level," McCrory said.
More information
The U.S. National Library of Medicine has more about child abuse.
This article is available here -
http://news.yahoo.com/abuse-may-alte...170206644.html
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I could have told them that. Hypervigilant was always added to anything any shrink ever had to say about me. I will tell you though this hyper- vigilance saved my ass more than once. It is so fine tuned I’ve managed to duck before there was any sign something was heading my way. I remember walking out of a bar and even though I never saw anyone I just felt something coming at me; I just knew it somehow and moved just enough that the person just grazed my face. The people I walked out with weren’t as lucky. I guess they weren’t from abusive and violent homes. Who says good stuff doesn’t come from bad.
The good news is I don't have any mental health problems or anxiety issues, at least none I'm aware of. However, addictive behavior is another story. I can pretty much get addicted to anything. I try to focus this in directions that can help me. Like work, exercise, projects around the house, stuff like that. I can be relentless. I never quit.
I get that growing up in abusive and violent homes are not ideal situations. Really it doesn't take Einstein to figure that out. Of course there will be long term effects.
Knowing that always left me feeling there is something wrong with me. And I felt guilty or ashamed and I never understood exactly why. i remember a job I had working at a home for abused kids. The director and I were looking through applications from DYS and he said this one is out because there's too much physical abuse. We won't be able to work with this kid. I remember getting a sick feeling in my stomach and I only tried half-heartedly to talk him out of his opinion. I felt too ashamed to talk about my personal experiences. Like I was defective and just a throw away. You know i'm not sure where I'm going with this LOL. I guess nowhere really. I don't know what I'm trying to say. Reading the article just brought shit up for me. Thanks for posting the article though