Childhood trauma

Childhood trauma is often described as serious adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Children may go through a range of experiences that classify as psychological trauma; these might include neglect, abandonment, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and physical abuse, witnessing abuse of a sibling or parent, or having a mentally ill parent. These events have profound psychological, physiological, and sociological impacts and can have negative, lasting effects on health and well-being such as unsocial behaviors, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and sleep disturbances. Similarly, children whose mothers have experienced traumatic or stressful events during pregnancy have an increased risk of mental health disorders and other neurodevelopmental disorders. Kaiser Permanente and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 1998 study on adverse childhood experiences determined that traumatic experiences during childhood are a root cause of many social, emotional, and cognitive impairments that lead to increased risk of unhealthy self-destructive behaviors, risk of violence or re-victimization, chronic health conditions, low life potential and premature mortality. As the number of adverse experiences increases, the risk of problems from childhood through adulthood also rises. Nearly 30 years of study following the initial study has confirmed this. Many states, health providers, and other groups now routinely screen parents and children for ACEs. Early childhood trauma Traumatic experiences during childhood causes stress that increases an individual's allostatic load and thus affects the immune system, nervous system, and endocrine system. Exposure to chronic stress triples or quadruples the vulnerability to adverse medical outcomes. Childhood trauma is often associated with adverse health outcomes including depression, hypertension, autoimmune diseases, lung cancer, and premature mortality. Effects of childhood trauma on brain development includes a negative impact on emotional regulation and impairment of development of social skills.

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Adverse childhood experiences

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) include childhood emotional, physical, or sexual abuse and household dysfunction during childhood. The categories are verbal abuse, physical abuse, contact sexual abuse, a battered mother, household substance abuse, household mental illness, incarcerated household members, and parental separation or divorce. The experiences chosen were based upon prior research that has shown to them to have significant negative health or social implications, and for which substantial efforts are being made in the public and private sector to reduce their frequency of occurrence.

Psychological trauma

Psychological trauma (mental trauma, psychotrauma, or psychiatric trauma) is an emotional response caused by severe distressing events such as accidents, violence, sexual assault, terror, or sensory overload. Short-term reactions such as psychological shock and psychological denial are typically followed. Long-term reactions and effects include bipolar disorder, uncontrollable flashbacks, panic attacks, insomnia, nightmare disorder, difficulties with interpersonal relationships, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Borderline personality disorder

Borderline personality disorder (BPD), also known as emotionally unstable personality disorder (EUPD), is a personality disorder characterized by a long-term pattern of intense and unstable interpersonal relationships, distorted sense of self, and strong emotional reactions. Those affected often engage in self-harm and other dangerous behaviors, often due to their difficulty with returning their emotional level to a healthy or normal baseline. They may also struggle with a feeling of emptiness, fear of abandonment, and dissociation.

Post-Genomics and Health Challenges HUM-125(b): Global issues: health B

By Dr. Luca Chiapperino delves into the implications of post-genomics on health and society, focusing on the molecularization of our biography, experiences, and living environment.

Adolescent Stress-Induced Ventral Hippocampus Redox Dysregulation Underlies Behavioral Deficits and Excitatory/Inhibitory Imbalance Related to Schizophrenia

Maria del Carmen Sandi Perez, Dogukan Hazar Ülgen, Thamyris Silva

Background and hypothesis: Redox dysregulation has been proposed as a convergent point of childhood trauma and the emergence of psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia (SCZ). A critical region particularly vulnerable to environmental insults during ad ...

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High levels of childhood trauma associated with changes in hippocampal functional activity and connectivity in young adults during novelty salience

Elenor Morgenroth

Childhood trauma (CT) has been linked to increased risk for psychosis. Moreover, CT has been linked to psychosis phenotypes such as impaired cognitive and sensory functions involved in the detection of novel sensory stimuli. Our objective was to investigat ...

SPRINGER HEIDELBERG2023

Multivariate patterns of disrupted sleep longitudinally predict affective vulnerability to psychosis in 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome

Maude Schneider, Farnaz Delavari

22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) contributes dramatically to increased genetic risk for psychopathology, and in particular schizophrenia. Sleep disorders, including obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), are also highly prevalent, making 22q11DS a unique model ...

ELSEVIER IRELAND LTD2023