FDR: The Bomb in the Brain - The Effects of Child Abuse Part 1

[Stefan Molyneux]

[View:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbiq2-ukfhM]

References:

http://www.acestudy.org/

http://www.cavalcadeproductions.com/ace-study.html

http://www.neuropsychiatryreviews.com/07may/violence.html

http://psychohistory.com/originsofwar/03_psychology_neurobiology.html

http://www.motherinlawsunite.com/index.php?topic=46.0

http://www.adoptionarticlesdirectory.com/Article/Child-Abuse-and-Neglect--Effects-on-child-development--brain-development--and-interpersonal-relationships/42

http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/focus/earlybrain/earlybraina.cfm

These images are from studies conducted by a team of researchers from the Child Trauma Academy (www.ChildTrauma.org) led by Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D.

http://primal-page.com/childabu.htm

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=childhood-adverse-event-life-expectancy-abuse-mortality

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091006115140.htm

http://freedomainradio.com/BOARD/forums/t/10392.aspx

http://www.religioustolerance.org/spankin4.htm#neg

http://www.religioustolerance.org/spankin29.htm

http://www.religioustolerance.org/spankin28.htm

http://www.annafoundation.org/stwh.html

http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/display/article/10168/1285720

http://www.shockmd.com/2009/05/13/neuroscience-of-exercise/

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/04/060401104819.htm

For Initial Treatment Of Moderate To Severe Major Depression, Cognitive Therapy And Medication May Be Equally Effective
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/04/050420092142.htm

http://www.cancerconsultants.com/17196/

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/01/070102092229.htm

obesity:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12119573
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17572308?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_SingleItemSupl.Pubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=1&log$=relatedarticles&logdbfrom=pubmed

Alcohol:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16549308?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_SingleItemSupl.Pubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=1&log$=relatedarticles&logdbfrom=pubmed

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11754674?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_SingleItemSupl.Pubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=2&log$=relatedarticles&logdbfrom=pubmed

Leading causes of death:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9635069?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_SingleItemSupl.Pubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=3&log$=relatedarticles&logdbfrom=pubmed


The impact of maternal childhood abuse on maternal and infant HPA axis function in the postpartum period.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19931984?itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum&ordinalpos=18

drug abuse:
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/111/3/564

stress:
http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/56139/

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Adverse+childhood+experiences+linked+to+health+risk+behaviors.-a0202360686

smoking/depression:
http://xnet.kp.org/permanentejournal/winter02/goldtolead.html

[FreeSpirit]

Wow! What a chilling (in my view, chillingly accurate) exposé of the long-term effects of child abuse.

I can certainly see myself in many of those statistics: I scored 5 on the ACE scale, with the following outcomes:

• I have used drugs since age 18 (though mainly pot, and only infrequently).
• I have used alcohol since age 15 (though never alone, and only intermittently, but as a "binge" drinker)
• I have twice suffered acute depression (though I am aware of the specific circumstances that brought it on in both cases). I may also suffer from residual long-term depression (I tend to be a "loner", though generally a very content and positive person).
• I have been a heavy smoker since age 5!
• I have been sexually promiscuous since age 16.
• I am a master procrastinator.
• I tend to seek/enjoy stress and therefore tend to be a workaholic entrepreneur.

However, fortunately:

• I have never had any problem with obesity.
• I have never attempted suicide (though probably threatened it as a young child).
• I have not suffered any of the listed medical conditions (notwithstanding that I live on a diet of nicotine, caffeine and protein!)..
• I have never hit, verbally abused or insulted my child.

I can't wait for Part 4: "Disarming the Bomb in the Brain", though I think I have largely disarmed the bomb through a pretty successful roller-coaster career and, more recently, participation in FDR.

Thank you so much for helping the ACES to broadcast these facts to the world ... and, of course, for all of your outspoken criticism of child abuse since the very beginning of FDR and for your selfless help given to assist so many victims.

 

[Steven Shafer]

This video was very well made and really sums up a lot of important information.  I scored 0 on the test, but I have attempted suicide, used/use(far less frequently) marijuana, and I smoke (also far less frequently since being involved in this conversation.)  My score of zero might explain my quick bounce into sanity, but I still wonder why I had these effects. Perhaps a more specific ACE test with a larger amount of questions might cover it because I think my family abused me in completely different ways.

[WonderboyInMonsterland]

Hey all,

Was wondering if anyone knew the source for the pie chart @18:00 of this vid "Child Abuse & Neglect by Relationship to Victim" - i've looked through the links above but cannot find it....

Also, would be right in assuming that step-parents are included in the "parent" category - hence the differentiation with "unmarried partner of parent"...?

Would really appreciate any help on this.

 

 

 

[Alan C.]

Shaken Troops Face New Foe: Early Dementia

As I describe in the new issue of Nature, a growing body of scientific evidence suggests that these injured troops, who could easily number in the hundreds of thousands, face a heightened risk of early-onset dementia, and other diseases that attack the brain.

Worse, by Pentagon officials’ own admission, the military effectively ignored many cases of mild Traumatic Brain Injury, or TBI, primary caused by exposure to roadside bombs, for the better part of six years. One study, published in 2008 by a group of Army researchers in the New England Journal of Medicine, even downplayed the role of mild TBI, suggesting that people should use the word “concussion” rather than “mild traumatic brain injury” to avoid perpetuating the belief they are suffering from a long-term injury.

[Dave Bockman]

Yes, this melds quite well & supports these findings also:

[Alan C.]

Teen brains' growing pains

The roller-coaster teenage years can take IQs along for the ride. A
person’s IQ can nosedive and climb sky-high during adolescence, while
corresponding brain regions wax and wane in bulk, researchers report
online October 19 in Nature.

The results suggest that the IQ number given to a child is not
immutable, as many researchers believe, says neuroscientist Richard
Haier of the University of California, Irvine. “This is an extremely
interesting paper.”

Back in 2004, Cathy Price of the Wellcome Trust Centre for
Neuroimaging at University College London and colleagues tested the IQs
of 33 healthy participants who were, on average, 14 years old. While the
teens were in the lab, structural MRI brain scans measured particular
brain regions.

About four years later, Price and her team invited the teenagers back
for a redo. Overall, IQ scores held steady: Average IQs were 112 in
2004 and 113 four years later. But when the researchers zoomed in on
individual teens, they found that about a third of the teenagers had
meaningful changes in IQ, and a handful showed dizzying climbs or
plunges.

One such plunge was 18 IQ points — which would be enough to demote a
person from genius status to merely above average. The retest also
turned up an IQ gain of 21 points — which would elevate a below-average
person to above average. Some people who scored high the first time
around scored even higher later, and some low scorers scored even
lower.

To Price and her colleagues, these results were so surprising that
they initially suspected mundane explanations such as differences in the
teens’ levels of concentration at the time of each test. But the brain
scan data argued otherwise.

The IQ changes were accompanied by changes in the brains’ gray
matter, which is made up of nerve cells. Boosts in verbal IQ came along
with denser gray matter in the left motor cortex, a part of the brain
that’s involved in speaking. And boosts in performance IQ, which
measures abilities such as understanding pictures, were accompanied by
denser gray matter in the anterior cerebellum, a part of the brain
important for movement.

These brain changes mean it’s less likely that the IQ variations
represent someone having a bad testing day, Price says. “We therefore
concluded that the fluctuations were meaningful changes in IQ, not
measurement error,” she says.

Evidence for a malleable intellect could change how people’s
abilities are evaluated, she says. For instance, it might help educators
to know that intelligence scores are still in flux during the teen
years.

Some studies, including work by Haier, have found that intense brain
training can boost gray matter, although no one knows exactly how those
brain changes relate to IQ.

Because the current study followed teens in their normal lives,
scientists don’t know what prompted the IQ and brain changes. Rapidly
developing interest in socializing, school and even sports might all
influence the brain, Haier says: “So much is going on in the teenage
years.”

[Alan C.]

Effects of physical discipline linger for adults

Tara grew up thinking that spankings or a smack on the arm were normal punishments for breaking a plate or playing her music too loudly. She never knew what would set her father off, and her mother never intervened, so she did her best to avoid him, walking on eggshells whenever he was around.

"It wasn't until I grew older and was out from under my parents' roof that I learned it wasn't the norm," said Tara, a 34-year-old public relations consultant in Phoenix. She asked that her last name not be used because she no longer talks to her father and fears drawing his attention.

"I think my father truly didn't care enough to 'teach' me how to be, but instead would try to knock undesirable behaviors out of me."

As she watched the YouTube video last week of a Texas judge beating his daughter, Tara's mind wandered to an afternoon in her senior year of high school more than a decade ago, when her father's idea of discipline turned into violence.

He burst into her room, yelling and swearing. Another teacher at Tara's East Tennessee high school, where her father worked, had told him that students were saying that she had kissed a black boy. He cursed at his daughter as he slapped and punched her all over, his clunky school ring pounding her skin like a brass knuckle.

"Seeing that girl made me think, wow, that's what I lived through," Tara said. "I saw so much of myself in it, it made me shudder to think back on it."

Among psychologists, Tara's flashback is considered a symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder from years of physical and emotional abuse, and it's just one of many potential lasting effects when discipline crosses the line into abuse.

. . .

For Tara, who endured prolonged or severe instances of violence under
the guise of discipline, the video took her breath away. It also forced
her to reflect upon how her experiences with "physical correction" had
altered the course of her life.

"I suffer from anxiety and never really feel 'safe.' I worry a lot
about the most trivial things, and I truly believe this is a result of
me never feeling safe in my own home," she said.

Is it okay to spank?

 

• 94% of 3- and 4-year-olds have been spanked at least once during the past year, according to one study.
• 74% of mothers believe spanking is acceptable for kids ages 1 to 3, says another study.
• 61% of parents condone spanking as a "regular form of punishment" for young children, according to a different study.

. . .

Experts cite stacks of research that link spanking to mental health
problems such as depression and a range of antisocial behaviors that
land kids in detention and adults in jail. Of course, not all spanked
kids end up in prison. Not all smokers end their days hooked up to an
oxygen tank, says Straus, but that doesn't mean that it's fine for
parents to introduce their children to nicotine.

Yet for many parents, their own childhood experience is hefty enough
to quash any amount of data or well-reasoned line of logic. This doesn't
surprise Gary Hill, a clinical psychologist at the Family Institute at
Northwestern University, in Evanston, Illinois. "There's a strong
emotional connection to the childhood event," he says, "so parents who
spank are often more righteous about it." He also notes that for some
adults, it's impossible to blame their own parents for spanking because
it would mean that they were somehow scarred by being spanked. Instead,
they believe that they "deserved" what they got.

[Raf]

Can someone xplain the following to me:

I understand that people who are addicted to substances got their brains damged in early years as a result of adverse childhood experiences. They take intake substances (tobacco, alkohol) in order to self-medicate their physically damged brains (not enough serotonine or too much serotonine or too many or too few receptors - it realy doesn't matter at the moment).

My question is, what happens after such a person quits his / her habbit due to e.g. group therapy. Am I correct to assume that this person's brain still remains physically damaged after such a therapy? Or the therapy leads to a phisical healing of the brain?

Am I missing something?

[Stefan Molyneux]

My understanding is that therapy does actually heal the brain:

[View:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub__iIOZ3Xc]

[Raf]

 

My understanding is that therapy does actually heal the brain:

 

 

 

Thank you Stef,

I watched the video. My understanding is that the changes are functional and detectable via a functional MRI. These are not physical changes (the mass of the brain does not change), but functional.

Does anyone have evidence that a non-drug therapy leads to a physical / structural change (certain parts / components of brain grow or recess as a result of a sucessful therapy, e.g. hipocampus grows or amygdalia contract)? Would this even be possible through e.g. neurogenesis? Has someone made any scientific research on this that you are aware of?

 

[Raf]

This is an interesting news from 12 days ago.

As expected certain parts of the brain shrink when patients are suffering from depression. What is unexpected is that after depressions these parts naturally regrow: http://www.euronews.com/2012/01/18/depression-researchers-pinpoint-brain-anomaly/