Childhood Adversity Increases Risk for Depression and Chronic Inflammation

Childhood Adversity Increases Risk for Depression and Chronic Inflammation   

ScienceDaily (July 3, 2012) ….there is growing evidence that a similar process happens when a person experiences psychological trauma. Unfortunately, this type of inflammation can be destructive.

Previous studies have linked depression and inflammation, particularly in individuals who have experienced early childhood adversity, but overall, findings have been inconsistent. Researchers Gregory Miller and Steve Cole designed a longitudinal study in an effort to resolve these discrepancies, and their findings are now published in a study in Biological Psychiatry….

The researchers found that when individuals who suffered from early childhood adversity became depressed, their depression was accompanied by an inflammatory response. In addition, among subjects with previous adversity, high levels of interleukin-6 forecasted risk of depression six months later. In subjects without childhood adversity, there was no such coupling of depression and inflammation.

Dr. Miller commented on their findings: “What’s important about this study is that it identifies a group of people who are prone to have depression and inflammation at the same time. That group of people experienced major stress in childhood, often related to poverty, having a parent with a severe illness, or lasting separation from family. As a result, these individuals may experience depressions that are especially difficult to treat.”

Another important aspect to their findings is that the inflammatory response among the high-adversity individuals was still detectable six months later, even if their depression had abated, meaning that the inflammation is chronic rather than acute. “Because chronic inflammation is involved in other health problems, like diabetes and heart disease, it also means they have greater-than-average risk for these problems. They, along with their doctors, should keep an eye out for those problems,” added Dr. Miller.

“This study provides important additional support for the notion that inflammation is an important and often under-appreciated factor that compromises resilience after major life stresses. It provides evidence that these inflammatory states persist for long periods of time and have important functional correlates,” said Dr. John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry….http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120703133721.htm

Gregory E. Miller, Steve W. Cole. Clustering of Depression and Inflammation in Adolescents Previously Exposed to Childhood Adversity. Biological Psychiatry, 2012; 72 (1): 34 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2012.02.034….

Results
Multilevel models indicated that childhood adversity promotes clustering of depression and inflammation. Among subjects exposed to high childhood adversity, the transition to depression was accompanied by increases in both CRP and IL-6. Higher CRP remained evident 6 months later, even after depressive symptoms had abated. These lingering effects were bidirectional, such that among subjects with childhood adversity, high IL-6 forecasted depression 6 months later, even after concurrent inflammation was considered. This coupling of depression and inflammation was not apparent in subjects without childhood adversity.

Conclusions
These findings suggest that childhood adversity promotes the formation of a neuroimmune pipeline in which inflammatory signaling between the brain and periphery is amplified. Once established, this pipeline leads to a coupling of depression and inflammation, which may contribute to later affective difficulties and biomedical complications. http://www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S0006-3223%2812%2900213-2/abstract

Severe abuse in childhood may treble risk of schizophrenia, 30-60% overlap of child maltreatment and domestic violence

Severe abuse in childhood may treble risk of schizophrenia – Research links sexual, physical and emotional abuse, school bullying and parental neglect to schizophrenia in adulthood – Alok Jha, science correspondent  guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 18 April 2012

Children who experience severe forms of abuse are around three times as likely to develop schizophrenia and related psychoses in later life compared with children who do not experience such abuse, according to a study that has brought together psychiatric data from almost 80,000 people.

The results add to a growing body of evidence that childhood maltreatment or abuse can raise the risk of developing mental illnesses in adulthood, including depression, personality disorders and anxiety.

Prof Richard Bentall of the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, who led the study, showed that the risk of developing psychosis increased in line with the amount of abuse or trauma a child had gone through, with the most severely affected children having a 50-fold increased risk compared with children who had suffered no abuse. He also showed that the type of trauma experienced in childhood affected the subsequent psychiatric symptoms later in life….

Bentall’s team analysed 36 published studies that contained data on childhood maltreatment (including sexual, physical and emotional abuse, death of a parent, school bullying and neglect) and psychiatric symptoms in almost 80,000 people, collected over the course of 30 years. People who experienced these types of trauma in childhood were between 2.7 and 3 times as likely to develop schizophrenia as adults, the team found. The research is published in the journal Schizophrenia Bulletin….

The latest results add to recent evidence that childhood abuse can lead to serious problems in later life. In 2011, scientists at the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP) at King’s College London found that people with a history of abuse or maltreatment during childhood were more than twice as likely to have recurrent episodes of depression in adulthood and also 43% more likely to experience a poor outcome when it came to psychological or drug-based treatment. They examined data from 16 epidemiological studies involving more than 23,000 people in total and 10 clinical trials involving more than 3,000 people

The mechanisms behind the link between childhood maltreatment and schizophrenia are not yet understood. Earlier this year, psychiatrists at Harvard University found that being sexually or emotionally abused as a child correlated with reduced volumes of three important areas of the hippocampus, which is involved in the control of memory and regulation of emotions. Volumes were reduced by up to 6.5%. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/apr/18/severe-abuse-childhood-risk-schizophrenia

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/21/severe-abuse-in-childhood-may-triple-risk-of-schizophrenia/

Childhood Adversities Increase the Risk of Psychosis: A Meta-analysis of Patient-Control, Prospective- and Cross-sectional Cohort Studies

Filippo Varese,  Feikje Smeets, Marjan Drukker, Ritsaert Lieverse, Tineke Lataster, Wolfgang Viechtbauer, John Read, Jim van Os and Richard P. Bentall

Abstract

Evidence suggests that adverse experiences in childhood are associated with psychosis. To examine the association between childhood adversity and trauma (sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional/psychological abuse, neglect, parental death, and bullying) and psychosis outcome, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsychINFO, and Web of Science were searched from January 1980 through November 2011. We included prospective cohort studies, large-scale cross-sectional studies investigating the association between childhood adversity and psychotic symptoms or illness, case-control studies comparing the prevalence of adverse events between psychotic patients and controls using dichotomous or continuous measures, and case-control studies comparing the prevalence of psychotic symptoms between exposed and nonexposed subjects using dichotomous or continuous measures of adversity and psychosis. The analysis included 18 case-control studies (n = 2048 psychotic patients and 1856 nonpsychiatric controls), 10 prospective and quasi-prospective studies (n = 41?803) and 8 population-based cross-sectional studies (n = 35?546). There were significant associations between adversity and psychosis across all research designs, with an overall effect of OR = 2.78 (95% CI = 2.34–3.31). The integration of the case-control studies indicated that patients with psychosis were 2.72 times more likely to have been exposed to childhood adversity than controls (95% CI = 1.90–3.88). The association between childhood adversity and psychosis was also significant in population-based cross-sectional studies (OR = 2.99 [95% CI = 2.12–4.20]) as well as in prospective and quasi-prospective studies (OR = 2.75 [95% CI = 2.17–3.47]). The estimated population attributable risk was 33% (16%–47%). These findings indicate that childhood adversity is strongly associated with increased risk for psychosis.http://schizophreniabulletin.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/03/28/schbul.sbs050

full article  http://schizophreniabulletin.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/03/28/schbul.sbs050.full

The 30-60% overlap of child maltreatment and domestic violence in families indicates a need for child protection policy and practice that reflects this co-occurrence. In 2009, the NRCCPS collaborated with the Family Violence Prevention Fund (FVPF) and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) to publish Child and Family Service Review Outcomes: Strategies to Improve Domestic Violence Responses in CFSR Program Improvement Plans to help child protection agencies develop and implement policy and best practice respond to the need for improving and deepening the child pro identified in the CFSR process.  http://nrccps.org/special-initiatives/domestic-violence/

Parents of teen accused of shootings faced charges, Brain Development Harmed in Mistreated Kids

articles:
- Parents of teen accused of shootings faced charges
- Brain Development Harmed in Mistreated Kids

Parents of teen accused of shootings faced charges
Tuesday, February 28, 2012, Rachel Dissell, The Plain Dealer

CHARDON, Ohio — It appears that T.J. Lane had violence in his life from the beginning.

Geauga County court records show the father of the teen who authorities say shot five students at Chardon High School on Monday had been arrested many times for violent crimes against women in his life, including Lane’s mother. More than once, police or courts warned him to stay away from the boy and his mother.

Authorities said the teen walked into the high school cafeteria early Monday morning, took out a gun and aimed it at several boys. In the end, three students were seriously wounded and one was killed. A fifth student died early Tuesday. T.J. Lane is to appear in Geauga County Juvenile Court Tuesday….

T.J. Lane attended Lake Academy, an alternative school in Willoughby for students in Lake and Geauga counties….

The teen had one prior case in Geauga County Juvenile court two years ago. Officials would not release information on the case. But several at the court said the family’s troubles were known to social workers in the county.

The father, Thomas Lane Jr., was known to county authorities because of a series of arrests for abusing women in his life, court records show. It’s not clear how much contact the father and son had.

But between 1995 and 1997, the boy’s father and mother, Sara A. Nolan, were each charged with domestic violence against each other.

The father was later charged with assaulting a police officer and served time in prison after trying to suffocate another woman he married several years after his son was born, according to court records.

He held the woman’s head under running water and bashed it into a wall, leaving a dent in the drywall, court records show….http://www.cleveland.com/chardon-shooting/index.ssf/2012/02/parents_of_teen_accused_of_sho.html

Brain Development Harmed in Mistreated Kids
Study May Help Explain Why Child Abuse Often Leads to Mental Problems Like Depression, Post-Traumatic Stress
By Brenda Goodman, MA WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD

Feb. 13, 2012 — A new study shows that the stress of child abuse appears to shrink a key region of the brain that regulates emotion, memory, and learning.

The finding may help explain why mistreated kids often experience lasting mental problems like depression and other psychiatric disorders.

The study is a counterpoint to recent research that found that children who were nurtured early in life were more likely to have larger brain centers for memory and emotion.

“Stress has a negative impact on brain development; support has a positive impact,” says Joan Luby, MD, a child psychiatrist at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo. Luby studies early emotional development, but she was not involved in the research.

The impact on brain development caused by child abuse may have lasting consequences.

“Having adverse life experiences clearly puts people at risk for mental disorders,” she says….

Researchers found that three key regions of the hippocampus were nearly 6% to 7% smaller in people who were significantly mistreated as kids compared to those who were not….

But he says people who had rough childhoods should also know that although early life experiences may be important for brain function, other studies have shown that some of the brain changes can be undone.

“Things like vigorous exercise will change it. Mental stimulation will influence it,” Teicher says. “Changes in the hippocampus are plastic and can be modified.” http://children.webmd.com/news/20120213/brain-development-harmed-in-mistreated-kids

Child Abuse Leaves Mark on Brain

Child Abuse Leaves Mark on Brain
Jennifer Welsh  Live Science Mon, 13 Feb 2012

Childhood abuse and maltreatment can shrink important parts of the brain, a new study of adults suggests.

Reduced brain volume in parts of the hippocampus could help to explain why childhood problems often lead to later psychiatric disorders, such as depression, drug addiction and other mental health problems, the researchers say. This link could help researchers find better ways to treat survivors of childhood abuse.

“These results may provide one explanation for why childhood abuse has been identified with an increased risk for drug abuse or psychosis,” study researcher Martin Teicher, of Harvard University, told LiveScience. “Now that one can look at these sub-regions [in the brain], we can get a better idea of what treatments are helping.”

The researchers used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to scan the brains of 193 individuals between 18 and 25 years old, who had already undergone several rounds of testing to be qualified. They then analyzed the size of areas in the hippocampus and compared the results with the patient’s history. They saw that those who had been abused, neglected or maltreated (based on well-established questionnaires) as children had reduced volume in certain areas of the hippocampus by about 6 percent, compared with kids who hadn’t experienced child abuse.

They also had size reductions in a related brain area called the subiculum, which relays the signals from the hippocampus to other areas of the brain, including the dopamine system, also known as the brain’s “reward center.” Volume reduction in the subiculum has been associated with drug abuse and schizophrenia, as well….

The study was published today (Feb. 13) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences.
http://www.livescience.com/18453-child-abuse-brain.html

Effects of sexual abuse last for decades, study finds

Effects of sexual abuse last for decades, study finds

Levels of so-called stress hormone are altered for years, sometimes causing physical and mental problems, researchers find

By Joan Raymond  msnbc.com contributor
6/30/2011

Young girls who are the victims of sexual abuse experience physical, biological and behavioral problems that can persist for decades after, a new study shows.

Researchers, who tracked a group of girls ranging in age from 6 to 16 at the start of the study in 1987 for the next 23 years, found that they had higher rates of depression and obesity, as well as problems with regulation of brain chemicals, among other issues, compared to a control group of girls who were not abused.

The study, published in the Cambridge University Press journal Development and Psychopathology, was conducted by researchers from the University of Southern California and the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Those in the study were assessed by researchers six times at varying ages and developmental stages. Researchers hope to continue the study looking at the women, who are now in their 30s, as well as their children.

The racially-diverse group of 80 girls, who lived in the Washington, D.C., area, were victims of incest, broadly defined as suffering sexual abuse by a male living within the home. On average, the girls were abused for about two years prior to the abuse coming to the attention of child protective services. Some girls were abused when they were as young as age 2.

Compared to a non-abused control group, the researchers found the study participants, all of whom were provided three therapy sessions on average in group and individual settings, suffered severe effects during different stages of their lives, which affected their sexual and cognitive development, mental and physical health, as well as their brain chemical profile. Study participants were more likely to be sexually active at younger ages, have lower educational status, and have more mental health problems.

As children, they had higher levels of cortisol, the so-called “stress hormone,” which is released in high levels during the body’s “fight or flight” response. But by about age 15, testing showed that cortisol levels were below normal, compared to the control group. Lower levels of cortisol have been linked to a decrease in the body’s ability to deal with stress, as well as problems with depression and obesity. Lower levels of the hormone have also been linked to post-traumatic stress disorder.

“The cortisol levels (of some study participants) wound up looking like Vietnam vets,” says study co-author Dr. Frank Putnam, professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. “That tells us they are in a chronic state of stress, and never feel safe.”

….The long-term effects of the abuse “were absolutely profound,” says lead author and child psychologist Penelope Trickett, USC professor of Social Work. “It’s just not mental health issues. Some of these women are suffering from a lot of problems today like sleep issues, poor health utilization, and have a lot of risky behaviors. It’s very disturbing.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43594639/ns/health-health_care/

Survivorship Ritual Abuse Webinars, Abuse Rates Higher Among Deaf Children

Abuse Rates Higher Among Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children Compared With Hearing Youths, Study Finds
ScienceDaily (Feb. 7, 2011)

A new study at Rochester Institute of Technology indicates that the incidence of maltreatment, including neglect and physical and sexual abuse, is more than 25 percent higher among deaf and hard-of-hearing children than among hearing youths.

The research also shows a direct correlation between childhood maltreatment and higher rates of negative cognition, depression and post-traumatic stress in adulthood.

The study, which was presented at the 2010 annual meeting of the Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, is one of the first to compare childhood maltreatment between deaf and hearing children….The group, which also included undergraduate psychology student Danielle Burnash and Gail Rothman-Marshall, associate professor of liberal studies at RIT’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf, conducted a survey of 425 college students, 317 hearing and 108 deaf, asking them to describe any maltreatment they had experienced prior to the age of 16.

Seventy-seven percent of deaf and hard-of-hearing respondents indicated experiencing some form of child maltreatment, compared with 49 percent among hearing respondents. In addition, respondents with more severe hearing loss indicated an increased rate and severity of maltreatment. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110118154733.htm

Survivorship Ritual Abuse Webinars
Saturday, February 19
noon Pacific Time
Alison Miller, Ph.D.
“Safety for Ritual Abuse and Mind Control Survivors.”

It is important for survivors to know whether or not they are presently safe from abusers. This Webinar will look at determining how safe you are, recognizing and understanding access programming (including reporting on disclosures), and maintaining or regaining physical safety. The BIG LIE that abusers know everything you do and say will be called into question.

Alison Miller is a psychologist licensed in British Columbia, Canada. She has been working with ritual abuse and mind control survivors since 1991. She is also an expert in parenting. She also presented a Webinar for Survivorship on July 24, 2010 on “Self-injury, Flashbacks, and Flooding as Programmed Responses, and How to Deal with Them.”

COST
Last year, Webinars cost $20.00. Now we have changed to a sliding scale so that each person can pay what they are able to. The scale starts at $50.00 and, in $5.00 increments, goes down to $0.00 (full scholarship). There is no longer any need to request a full or partial scholarship — you make the decision yourself. (Please factor in the cost of a telephone call to the East Coast.)

The PayPal button is under the description of the Webinar at http://www.survivorship.org/webinars.html

REGISTRATION
Registration closes Thursday evening January 17. If you wish to pay by PayPal, go to http://www.survivorship.org/webinars.html Otherwise, send your check to:

SURVIVORSHIP
Family Justice Center
470 27th Street
Oakland, CA 94612

To reserve a space in the Webinar, e-mail Shamai at shamai@survivorship.org and give her this information:

1.Your name
2. The Webinar you wish to attend: ”Safety for Ritual Abuse and Mind Control Survivors” on February 19 and/or one of the Webinars listed below
3. Amount and method of payment  (check, PayPal, money order)
4. Your preferred e-mail address (so we can send you instructions)
5. The name you will be using for the Webinar. (This does not have to be your real name or your message board screen name.)

FUTURE WEBINARS
Saturday, April 9
Staci Sprout, LICSW, CSAT
“Authentic Sexuality after Extreme Sexual Abuse: Part II: Tools You Can Use.”
This Webinar follows up what was begun in the December Webinar. (If you were not there I recommend reviewing it on the Survivorship Website). We will take the concepts of sexual addiction/anorexia in the context of surviving extreme trauma to the next practical level: how to assess your current sexual health today, how to organize daily nurturing tasks to improve sexual self-esteem, what is the role of making love with yourself/masturbation, and what are your visions for a healthy tomorrow?

We will discuss sexuality in both general and specific terms.
Staci Sprout works as an individual group psychotherapist at Sexual Recovery Services in Washington state. (See www.sexualrecoveryservices.com for more information.). She is a Certified Sexual Addiction Therapist (CSAT). She is also a survivor of extreme trauma and will share “what’s worked” along her personal journey of recovery as part of the presentation. Caution will be taken to promote safety by not using explicit language or stories, though content at times may be triggering for survivors.

Saturday, March 26
Trish Fotheringham
“Inner Structures – Settle In and Get Comfortable.”
Trish was born into a female-only matriarchal healing cult and an ancient patriarchal family clan who were connected to a variety of organized crime groups, including a group of wealthy political elite and their child pornography rings and child sex slave trafficking network. She is a 50-year-old Canadian Survivor of extreme abuse and trauma that included MKUltra-style ritual abuse, torture, mind control, and experimentation.

Trish will share some of the ways she handled her many different implanted Inner structures and tell how she, as an adult, intentionally self-created more structures that served healing purposes. The Webinar will be designed for dialog and interaction rather than as a lecture

PAST WEBINARS
Survivorship members may listen to past Webinars in the members’ section. (For information on joining Survivorship, go to http://www.survivorship.org/about/membership.html

Complete details on all our Webinars are at http://www.survivorship.org/webinars.html

child sex crimes in US sharply increasing, Sex Abuse Survivors Increased Disorders

Officials issue national strategy to fight child sex crimes By Terry Frieden, CNN Justice Producer August 3, 2010 Washington (CNN) — With child sex crimes in the United States sharply increasing, federal officials Monday issued a “national strategy” to combat child exploitation in homes, on streets and over the internet. Top federal law enforcement officials led by Attorney General Eric Holder vowed to take new steps to stem rampant child pornography, online enticements, child prostitution and child sex tourism. In a detailed report submitted to Congress on Monday, the Justice Department says that since 2006, when the government launched Project Safe Childhood, federal prosecutions have increased by 40 percent, and more than 8,600 defendants have been indicted. More than 2,400 alleged sex offenders were indicted in 2009 alone. “Tragically, the only place we’ve seen a decrease is in the age of the victims,” Holder said. Officials said the average age of girls targeted for child pornography is 12 to 14, while the average age of boys targeted is 11 to 13. http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/08/02/pol.strategy.child.exploitation/index.html

Office of Public Affairs FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, August 2, 2010 Department of Justice Releases First National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction
U.S. Marshals Service to Launch Nationwide Operation Targeting Top 500 Most Dangerous, Non-compliant Sex Offenders
WASHINGTON – Attorney General Eric Holder today announced that the Department of Justice released its first-ever National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction. The strategy also provides the first-ever comprehensive threat assessment of the dangers facing children from child pornography, online enticement, child sex tourism, commercial sexual exploitation and sexual exploitation in Indian Country, and outlines a blueprint to strengthen the fight against these crimes. The strategy builds upon the department’s accomplishments in combating child exploitation by establishing specific, aggressive goals and priorities and increasing cooperation and collaboration at all levels of government and the private sector.
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/August/10-opa-887.html

Sexual Abuse Survivors Have Increased of Psychiatric Disorders
ScienceDaily (July 12, 2010) — New research finds that a history of sexual abuse, regardless of the victim’s gender or age when the abuse occurred, correlates strongly with a lifetime diagnosis of multiple psychiatric disorders. In the July issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, researchers report that a history of sexual abuse is associated with suicide attempts, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorders, depression, and eating and sleep disorders. Additionally, associations between sexual abuse and depression, eating disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder were strengthened by a history of rape….The study reports prevalence rates of sexual abuse in some populations are as high as 21 percent in adults and 33 percent in children. Furthermore, sexual abuse survivors can represent up to 25 percent of patient panels in primary care practices. Researchers also explored why some abuse survivors do not experience psychiatric symptoms and suggest that genetic variability may confer a level of protection. “The protective effect of certain genes against the development of psychiatric disorders in abuse survivors is an intriguing prospect.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100712133129.htm

Wholeness: My Healing Journey from Ritual Abuse

Wholeness: My Healing Journey from Ritual Abuse 2010 Suzie Burke, R.N., Ph.D.      is the pen name of a real woman who is a registered nurse and licensed professional counselor with a doctorate in psychology. She sought professional counseling for herself when she experienced an episode of major depression. Initially, she assumed the mental and physical signs of her depression were caused by the family’s move across the country with her business executive husband. She discovered, however, her depression was deeper and darker than most. In order to survive the trauma of horrific ritual abuse she suffered as a child, her mind had long ago repressed those memories. The 10-year path to health, happiness and wholeness was a result of a savvy counselor, her own determination not to let her perpetrators “win,” plus a family that never wavered. Suzie Burke is now thriving. Paperback (Mass Market Paperback) 2010 Authorhouse ISBN13 : 9781449057190  http://suzieburke.com/

Early Abuse Tied to More Depression in Children

Early Abuse Tied to More Depression in Children ScienceDaily (Feb. 7, 2010)         Although children can be depressed for many reasons, new evidence suggests that there are physiological differences among depressed children based on their experiences of abuse before age 5. Early abuse may be especially damaging due to the very young age at which it occurs….The study appears in the January/February 2010 issue of the journal Child Development.

Children who experience maltreatment, including physical, sexual, and emotional abuse or neglect, grow up with a lot of stress. Cortisol, termed the “stress hormone,” helps the body regulate stress. But when stress is chronic and overloads the system, cortisol can soar to very high levels or plummet to lows, which in turn can harm development and health.

The researchers studied more than 500 low-income children ages 7 to 13, about half of whom had been abused and/or neglected, to find out whether abuse early in life and feelings of depression affected their levels of cortisol. High levels of depression were more frequent among children who were abused in the first five years of their lives than among maltreated children who weren’t abused early in life or children who weren’t maltreated at all.

More importantly, only children who were abused before age 5 and depressed had an atypical flattening of cortisol production during the day, whereas other children, whether they were depressed or not, showed an expected daily decline in cortisol from morning to afternoon….

“In the United States, more than 1.5 million children are abused and neglected every year, though it’s estimated that the actual rates are substantially greater,” according to Dante Cicchetti, McKnight Presidential Chair and professor of child development and psychiatry at the University of Minnesota, who led the study. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100205081811.htm