A neuroimaging study in Germany found that women who had endured childhood trauma exhibited decreased thickness in the cortex region of their brains. This decrease was particularly noted in the right lingual gyrus of the occipital lobe. The study further found that individuals who experienced childhood trauma and later developed borderline personality disorder had reduced cortical thickness in several additional brain areas. The study was published in Psychoneuroendocrinology.
Childhood trauma typically involves extreme, damaging events occurring before the age of 18, which could involve physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, neglect, violence, or loss of a loved one. These experiences, overwhelming for a child to cope with, can have lasting impacts on physical, emotional, and mental health, and may interfere with forming healthy relationships in adulthood.
Childhood trauma is a major risk factor for mental health disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD). Studies suggest that childhood trauma may cause an imbalance in brain systems responsible for managing stress responses. This imbalance can lead to mental health disorders.
One such system that can be affected is the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal gland axis. Its disruption could raise levels of glucocorticoids, a type of steroid hormone vital for managing the body’s response to stress and other essential processes. This increase may have harmful effects on a child’s developing brain, leading to noticeable traits in the brains of individuals who have survived childhood trauma.
The research team, led by Catarina Rosada, wanted to investigate this theory further. They conducted a study looking for unique neural correlates of childhood trauma experiences. The researchers reasoned that if childhood trauma adversely affects brain development, it may result in a decrease in the cortical thickness of affected individuals. Cortical thickness refers to the thickness of the outer layer of the brain responsible for higher cognitive functions. It is typically measured as the distance between the outermost surface of the cortex and the gray matter/white matter boundary.
The study comprised 129 women, 70 of whom were healthy with no history of childhood trauma, and 59 who had experienced childhood trauma. Among these 59 women, 25 were healthy, 14 had PTSD, and 20 had BPD. Each group shared similar demographics, including age, body mass index, education level, family status, smoking habits, and hormonal contraceptive use.
Participants who had experienced childhood trauma completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, rating the frequency of various traumatic events spanning five categories – emotional abuse, physical abuse, emotional neglect, physical neglect, and sexual abuse. PTSD severity was also assessed, and participants were asked to complete a depression symptom assessment. All participants underwent a magnetic resonance imaging scan of their brain.
The results indicated that the cortex in the right lingual gyrus of the occipital lobe and the left lateral occipital lobe was thinner in healthy participants who had experienced childhood trauma compared to those who had not. Trauma survivors with BPD had even thinner cortices in several additional brain areas compared to healthy participants.
The study’s authors concluded that the thickness of the cortex in specific brain areas is associated with childhood trauma and could influence the risk of developing mental health issues in adulthood. The researchers suggest that these findings could be used to help individuals with BPD understand their emotional and behavioral difficulties.
However, while the study adds to our understanding of the brain’s response to childhood trauma, it has its limitations. The number of trauma survivors was small, and all participants were women. Also, the study design does not allow for any definitive cause-and-effect conclusions to be drawn from the results.
The study, “Childhood Trauma and Cortical Thickness in Healthy Women, Women with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Women with Borderline Personality Disorder”, was authored by Catarina Rosada, Martin Bauer, Sabrina Golde, Sophie Metz, Stefan Roepke, Christian Otte, Claudia Buss, and Katja Wingenfeld.