Women who were sexually or physically abused as children may have alterations in their brain chemistry that make them prone to depression and anxiety, new research shows. Increased hormonal responses to stress may explain why women who were abused as children are at high risk of major depression and anxiety disorders.
In a study of 49 women aged 18 to 45, researchers found that those who were both clinically depressed and had a history of abuse showed abnormal hormone activity in response to stress.
Dr. Charles B. Nemeroff of Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia, led the study.
Nemeroff's team tested the theory that early-life trauma leads to an overly sensitive hormonal response to stress in adulthood. The study authors speculated that this sensitization makes women vulnerable to developing depression and anxiety disorders -- two closely related psychological problems.
The researchers divided the women into four groups, one of which included women who had been diagnosed with major depression and had been abused as children.
The women were placed in potentially stressful situations, including having to speak and perform mental math tasks in front of an audience.
Nemeroff and colleagues measured the women's heart rates and levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol.
The investigators found that the stress triggered higher hormone activity in women who were depressed and had a history of abuse, compared with healthy women and those who were depressed but had not been abused.
While there has been considerable evidence that childhood trauma plays an important role in the development of adult psychological problems, this is the first human study to show hyperactive hormonal responses to stress in adults who suffered early trauma, the authors point out.
Nemeroff and his colleagues are now studying whether antidepressant drugs that block the stimulation of cortisol and ACTH can treat or even prevent mood disorders related to child abuse.
Future research will clearly confirm that emotional abuse at an early age not only causes emotional symptoms as an adult, but most of the physical health problems they suffer with.
It should be noted that the effects of this abuse are certainly not restricted to only girls and that the negative experiences affect boys just as much, although they may respond differently.
The Journal of the American Medical Association
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