Premium
Preliminary Evidence for Abnormal Cortical Development in Physically and Sexually Abused Children Using EEG Coherence and MRI a
Author(s) -
TEICHER MARTIN H.,
ITO YUTAKA,
GLOD CAROL A.,
ANDERSEN SUSAN L.,
DUMONT NATALIE,
ACKERMAN ERIKA
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1997.tb48277.x
Subject(s) - medical school , general hospital , psychology , child and adolescent psychiatry , psychiatry , medicine , library science , medical education , family medicine , computer science
Physical or sexual abuse during childhood has been associated with the development of an array of psychiatric disorders including multiple personality disorder,' borderline personality and refractory psychosis! Childhood physical abuse may also sensitize patients to the later development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).S We postulated that early deprivation or abuse could result in neurobiological abnormalities responsible for subsequent psychiatric disorders." Green et al.' found that soft neurological signs and nonspecific EEG abnormalities were more common in abused children. Greens proposed that this was an additional source of trauma amplifying the impact of the abusive environment. Davies9 reported that 17 of 22 sampled survivors of childhood incest had abnormal EEGs, and 36% had clinical seizures. He postulated that this handicap was a risk factor for being sexually abused and exploited by family members. Recently, we hypothesized that early childhood abuse or trauma could affect the development of the cerebral cortex and limbic ~ y s t e m . ~ . ' ~ ' ~