Child abuse leads to dire consequences

 A study stated that mistreatment of children may cause organic changes in the brain, which in turn increase their risk of depression in old age.

The study was conducted on people with major depressive disorder. The researchers linked two components in the history of patients with altered brain structures: childhood abuse and severe recurrent depression.

"It has been known for a very, very long time that childhood trauma is a major risk factor for depression and that childhood trauma is also associated with changes in the brain," said Dr. Nils Opel of the University of Münster in Germany.

"What we've really done is show that changes in the brain are directly related to clinical outcomes," he added. This is what is new.”

The study was conducted over a period of two years and included 110 patients, aged between 18 and 60 years, who were treated in hospital after being diagnosed with severe depression.

Initially, all the participants underwent a brain MRI scan and answered questionnaires to assess the extent of abuse they experienced as a child.

A report published in The Lancet Psychiatry said that within two years of the study's start, more than two-thirds of the participants had a relapse.

MRI scans revealed that childhood abuse and recurring depression were linked to similar contractions in the surface layer of the insular cortex, a part of the brain thought to help control emotions and self-awareness.

"I think the most important implication of our study is to reveal that trauma patients differ from non-traumatic patients in terms of increased risk of recurrent depression and that they are also different in brain structure and neurobiology," Opel said.

It is unclear whether these findings will eventually lead to new treatment approaches.