Physical abuse in childhood leads to adult depression

[Laura]

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=healthNews&storyid=2007-01-02T062746Z_01_N29244929_RTRUKOC_0_US-ABUSE-DEPRESSION.xml&src=rss&rpc=22

2 Jan 07

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Physically abused and neglected children are much more likely to grow into severely depressed adults, a finding that researchers said on Monday points to an urgent need to test abused children for depression early on.

Physically abused children have a 59 percent increased risk of lifetime major depression compared with similar children who were not abused, said the study in this month's issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Earlier studies had linked childhood abuse with serious depression but researchers said this study is the first to show that depression is a consequence of the abuse.

"These results underscore the need to detect and treat the long-term psychological (effects) of childhood neglect," wrote lead researcher Cathy Spatz Widom, who was with the New Jersey Medical School in Newark when she worked on the study.

Researchers compared about 680 children who were abused and neglected before the age of 11 with 520 children of similar age, race, sex, and social status. Both groups were followed into young adulthood, up to an average age of 29.

Children who were physically abused, neglected or both had as much as a 75 percent higher risk of suffering major depression as adults.

"In addition, these findings reveal that onset of depression began in childhood for many of the children," the report said.

 

[Gimpy]

Hmmm. I started suffering from clinical depression at 13. I didn't get any kind of help for it until an adult and out of my parents reach (yes they were abusive). I've had testing done and it showed that my brain chemistry was off, leading to clinical depression. How much of that was influenced by environment, I don't know.

Gimpy

 

[SunEterna]

Could it be applied for violent parents without very much physical abuse?

 

[Alada]

Could it be applied for violent parents without very much physical abuse?

I don’t that the amount of abuse would make that much difference, abuse is abuse. Perhaps a few small instances with enough severity can make just as great an impact as many recurrences of ‘low level’ over the same time period?

It’s not a good idea to be too general though I think, especially without the specific context or any additional background to the question.

Worth remembering too that genetics can come in to play with depression, that brain chemistry and any imbalances there can play a big role. Diet too.

 

[SunEterna]

Yeah! My parents were violent between them, always yelling, i saw a whole world a madness and un-self control! I have in my family many people who suffered from depression... my brother, my sister, my cousin, my uncle... etc...

 

[SunEterna]

Yeah, and i saw a study saying that depression, stress and anxiety could be passed to the next generation!
I take L-Theanine, DL Phenylalanine, GABA...
Yeah, i sometimes make generalization but in my case i had big anxiety while i was a child! I mean, i was not secured! So, i took this information in order to light up my problem! ;)

Well, thanks!

 

[Pierre]

Yeah, and i saw a study saying that depression, stress and anxiety could be passed to the next generation!

Maybe depression is passed to the next generation because it has an infectious dimension.

The paper linked here shows interesting data that strongly suggests that depressions, or at least a good share of them might indeed be due to infectious agents.

 

[SunEterna]

Thank you! :)