Child sexual abuse Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ====Neurological damage==== Research has shown that traumatic stress, including stress caused by sexual abuse, may cause notable changes in brain functioning and development.<ref>Developing Mind, Daniel Siegel, Guilford Press, 1999{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|author1=Maia Szalavitz |author2=Perry, Bruce |title=The boy who was raised as a dog: and other stories from a child psychiatrist's notebook: what traumatized children can teach us about loss, love and healing |publisher=Basic Books |location=New York |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-465-05652-1}}{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref> Various studies have suggested that severe child sexual abuse may have a deleterious effect on brain development. Ito et al. (1998) found "reversed hemispheric asymmetry and greater left hemisphere coherence in abused subjects;"<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Ito Y, Teicher MH, Glod CA, Ackerman E |title=Preliminary evidence for aberrant cortical development in abused children: a quantitative EEG study |journal=The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=298β307 |year=1998 |pmid=9706537|doi=10.1176/jnp.10.3.298 }}</ref> Teicher et al. (1993) found that an increased likelihood of "ictal temporal lobe epilepsy-like symptoms" in abused subjects;<ref name="epi">{{Cite journal|vauthors=Teicher MH, Glod CA, Surrey J, Swett C |title=Early childhood abuse and limbic system ratings in adult psychiatric outpatients |journal=The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=301β6 |year=1993 |pmid=8369640|doi=10.1176/jnp.5.3.301 }}</ref> Anderson et al. (2002) recorded abnormal [[Relaxation (NMR)|transverse relaxation]] time in the cerebellar vermis of adults sexually abused in childhood;<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Anderson CM, Teicher MH, Polcari A, Renshaw PF |title=Abnormal T2 relaxation time in the cerebellar vermis of adults sexually abused in childhood: potential role of the vermis in stress-enhanced risk for drug abuse |journal=Psychoneuroendocrinology |volume=27 |issue=1β2 |pages=231β44 |year=2002 |pmid=11750781 |doi=10.1016/S0306-4530(01)00047-6|s2cid=38238017 }}</ref> Teicher et al. (1993) found that child sexual abuse was associated with a reduced [[corpus callosum]] area; various studies have found an association of reduced volume of the left hippocampus with child sexual abuse;<ref name="scars">{{Cite journal|author=Teicher MH |title=Scars that won't heal: the neurobiology of child abuse |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_scientific-american_2002-03_286_3/page/68 |journal=Scientific American |volume=286 |issue=3 |pages=68β75 |date=March 2002 |pmid=11857902 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0302-68|bibcode=2002SciAm.286c..68T }}</ref> and Ito et al. (1993) found increased electrophysiological abnormalities in sexually abused children.<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Ito Y, Teicher MH, Glod CA, Harper D, Magnus E, Gelbard HA |title=Increased prevalence of electrophysiological abnormalities in children with psychological, physical, and sexual abuse |journal=The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences |volume=5 |issue=4 |pages=401β8 |year=1993 |pmid=8286938 |doi=10.1176/jnp.5.4.401}}</ref> Some studies indicate that sexual or physical abuse in children can lead to the overexcitation of an undeveloped [[limbic system]].<ref name="scars" /> Teicher et al. (1993)<ref name="epi" /> used the "Limbic System Checklist-33" to measure ictal temporal lobe epilepsy-like symptoms in 253 adults. Reports of child sexual abuse were associated with a 49% increase to LSCL-33 scores, 11% higher than the associated increase of self-reported physical abuse. Reports of both physical and sexual abuse were associated with a 113% increase. Male and female victims were similarly affected.<ref name="epi" /><ref>{{Cite journal |first1=Joan |last1=Arehart-Treichel |date=March 2001 |title=Psychological Abuse May Cause Changes in Brain |journal=Psychiatric News |volume=36 |issue=5 |page=36 |url=http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/36/5/36.full |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110320035637/http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/36/5/36.full |archive-date=2011-03-20 |doi=10.1176/pn.36.5.0036 }}</ref> Navalta et al. (2006) found that the self-reported math [[Scholastic Aptitude Test]] scores of their sample of women with a history of repeated child sexual abuse were significantly lower than the self-reported math SAT scores of their non-abused sample. Because the abused subjects' verbal SAT scores were high, they hypothesized that the low math SAT scores could "stem from a defect in hemispheric integration." They also found a strong association between short-term memory impairments for all categories tested (verbal, visual, and global) and the duration of the abuse.<ref name="navalta">{{Cite journal|vauthors=Navalta CP, Polcari A, Webster DM, Boghossian A, Teicher MH|title=Effects of childhood sexual abuse on neuropsychological and cognitive function in college women |journal=The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=45β53 |year=2006 |pmid=16525070 |doi=10.1176/appi.neuropsych.18.1.45}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! 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