Brain 'Shrinks' If Children Neglected
Source: BBC News
An early life full of neglect, deprivation and adversity leads to people growing up with smaller brains, a study suggests. The researchers at King's College London were following adopted children who spent time in "hellhole" Romanian orphanages.
They grew up with brains 8.6% smaller than other adoptees. The researchers said it was the "first and most compelling" evidence of the impact on the developing brain. The appalling care at the orphanages came to light after the fall of Romania's communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989.
"I remember TV pictures of those institutions, they were shocking," Prof Edmund Sonuga-Barke, who now leads the study following those children, told the BBC. He described the institutions as "hellholes" where children were "chained into their cots, rocking, filthy and emaciated". The children were physically and psychologically deprived with little social contact, no toys and often ravaged by disease.
The children studied had spent between two weeks and nearly four years in such institutions. Previous studies on children who were later adopted by loving families in the UK showed they were still experiencing mental health problems in adulthood. Higher levels of traits including autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and a lack of fear of strangers (disinhibited social engagement disorder) have all been documented...
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/health-51010388
The latest study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the first to scan the brains for answers. There were 67 Romanian adoptees in the study and their brains were compared to 21 adoptees who did not suffer early life deprivation.
"What we found is really quite striking," Prof Sonuga-Barke told the BBC. First the total brain volume - the size of the brain - was 8.6% smaller in the Romanian adoptees on average.
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,013 posts)not fooled
(5,801 posts)because abortion was outlawed under a totalitarian, fascist leader? Who wanted to force women to bear children but whose country couldn't provide opportunities for those children to be kept by the birth parents?
That's an important part of the story. And relevant to our times, considering the direction the fetus lovers want to continue forcing the U.S.
appalachiablue
(41,153 posts)bamagal62
(3,264 posts)Who adopted a child from one of these orphanages. I believe he was 3-4 yrs when they finally got him home to the US. Life was very difficult for him. Sadly, he committed suicide in his early 20s. They gave him a loving and safe home. But, the damage done at such a young age was too much. 😢
appalachiablue
(41,153 posts)kimbutgar
(21,168 posts)I took a child development class and the teacher was a big proponent of brain development in children. Her view was teach a child how to expand their brains. In this class she gave us articles about those in prisons who experienced bad childhoods, undiagnosed learning disabilities and mental illness which eventually contributed to their future incarceration. Our teacher said these childrens brain development stayed in the brain stem ( fight or flight )instead of moving to the prefrontal cortex of learning and reasoning.
This was in the 90s we known this and now our government is destroying childrens lives.
So cruel
How we treat our children determines the future of mankind.
herding cats
(19,565 posts)She never went on to have a normal life, of course her situation was much more extreme and complicated after the fact.
Children need touch and nurturing to develop normal, healthy minds. Without those things they never develop crucial areas of the brain we all need to function fully.