Childhood Trauma Flashcards
What’s the major “stress hormone”? How is it normally controlled? What if you have a bad rat mom?
Cortisol. It’s usually under negative feedback regulation in the HPA (hypothalamic, pituitary, adrenal) axis. Children of un-nurturing rat moms have an impaired feedback loop.
Mechanism of impaired cortisol signaling feedback loop being passed on to rat pups that don’t get nurtured?
methylation of GR (glucocorticoid receptor) gene -> epigenetic inheritance.
What are the hormones in the HPA axis? How do their levels change in response to stress?
Cortisol, corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), and vasopressin (AVP).
How do female rats that don’t get much nurturing behave later in life? Does this happen in people?
More promiscuous, less nurturing. It seems to.
2 genes other than GR that have variants that confer susceptibility to stress?
5-HTTLRP
MAOA
How do the effects of chronic stress and trauma-related anxiety affect the brain differently in adults and children, with regards to the areas of the brain affected?
Adults: more focal effects on hippocampus and amygdala
Children: more generalized effects on whole brain.
5 gross changes in brain structure caused by emotional trauma?
Decrease in corpus callosum volume Increased hemispheric lateralization Decreased rate of myelination Decreased medial prefrontal cortex volume Decreased total brain volume
What’s one difference that can be seen on a PET scan between a healthy brain and a brain of an child neglected as an infant?
Limbic,emotional systems don’t work well.
What’s thought to be the reason why the age of the child when maltreatment occurs affects the deficit?
The deficit is likely to occur in the part or parts of the brain that are developing at that time.
When is the hippocampus most vulnerable?
Vulnerable to all forms of maltreatment in first 2-3 years of life.
When is the right temporal gyrus (important for spoken language) particularly vulnerable?
Vulnerable to emotional abuse between ages 7 and 9.
When is the corpus callosum (important for language, math, processing social cues) most vulnerable?
Most vulnerable to neglect in infancy and sexual abuse in elementary school years.
Are adverse childhood events responsible for a lot of morbidity / mortality in this country?
Yes, a whole lot.
Protective factors for children that experience ACEs? (name 5)
Genetics Relationship with caring/supportive adult Intellectual ability Talent Community involvement (religion, etc.)
3 treatments for children with traumatic stress symptoms?
Trauma-focused CBT
EMDR? (hypnosis -> processing trauma without emoition and stress)
Early Post Exposure Interventions
