Early Life Stress Reduces These Two Emotional Skills

Posted on July 15, 2017

Stress experienced by a person in early life decreases their ability to feel enthusiasm and experience pleasure when they are adults. Hence, early life stress is a major factor for depression. Neglected or abused children have almost twice the likelihood of getting depression later in life, studies show.

It is thought that neglect and abuse affects how the brain processes reward. According to Dr Jamie Hanson, results from a two-year research with adolescents found an abnormal decrease in the ventral stratium response to reward only in adolescents who had been emotionally neglected by parents. The ventral stratium is pivotal for experiencing positive emotions and enjoying rewarding experiences.

The study also showed that the decrease of activity in the ventral stratium was predictive of depressive symptoms during the adolescent years, a key developmental period.

Dr John Krystal, editor of the journal Dr Hanson’s research was published in, suggests that this insight could benefit families and early-life trauma survivors by knowing about what might occur later in life, which could help with early intervention.


Category(s):Child Development, Depression

Source material from PSYBLOG