Child abuse linked to depression, anxiety in later life
In my last column, I pointed out that nature and nurture should not be regarded as enemies or polar opposites. Rather, they are two intertwined realities that work together to make up the human experience. Nature was designed for nurture.
Many studies in recent years have documented the effects that early childhood experience can have on both the physical and chemical makeup of the brain. In particular, childhood abuse or neglect can permanently alter an individual’s physiology. These physiological changes may lead to a greater likelihood of the person suffering from depression or anxiety later in life.
Groundbreaking results from a major study of depressed women in the U.S. showed women who were abused as children have abnormally elevated hormonal responses to stress compared to women with no history of abuse. It suggests that childhood abuse is associated with persistent hyperactivity of the hormonal system associated with the stress response and this may cause greater vulnerability to psychiatric disorders in adulthood.
The study, out of Emory University, looked at women with clinical depression who had been abused as children, depressed women with no past abuse, and healthy women. Each person was given a moderately stressful experience and asked to perform simple math problems aloud for a panel of poker-faced judges.