Psycological damage can quickly become chronic.
-"adverse childhood experience' -> attempted suicide + Early life stress (common enough to get its own acronym: ELS) -> pathophysiological (Pathology is the medical discipline that describes conditions typically observed during a disease state, whereas physiology is the biological discipline that describes processes or mechanisms operating within an organism) change in the CNS -> more vlunerable to stress later own = predisposed to mental and physical disorders.
Shit. Talk about a negative feedback loop.
Physical/sexual abuse effects mental health. Duh.
-Women with a history of sex abuse -> more likely to be depressive after a stressful live event than those without such history.
-Interesting: girls abused before 13 = PTSD or Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)
--girls abused after 13 = more likely PTSD
So: To let reality set in: Your body has it's physiology; that is, the way that it functions. Normally, that physiology is a healthy condition: your body's functions are essentially designed to work. For a long time.
However, there are times when the body's physiology, its processes, mechanisms, functioning, are not healthy. They are damaged, and can cause more damage. Like dirt in an engine slowly scraping away at finely tuned parts. We have a compound word for this: 'pathophysiology' (or, from another angle, 'physiopathology'). The processes and mechanisms operating within your organism--your body-- are diseased.
There are ways to affect the basic mechanics of an organism--its physiology. One of those ways is stress. Horrible experiences. Especially when those experiences are had during childhood. Pathophyiologists call this "Early Life Stress" or ELS. They can note all sorts of woeful things associated with ELS; such as marked increases in attempted suicide thoughout one's life, development of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or Major Depressive Disorder (PTSD or MDD, because everything must have its acronym)... with the MDD being more common with abuse at younger ages.
Meaning that the ol' adages are true: abuse leads to depression, which can lead to more abuse, and perhaps pattern-mimicking. The learning of bad habits.
In fact, there is evidence that Early Life Stress can alter brain structure. It's physical structure. Decreasing hippocampal volume and undermining, at a biological level, a person's ability to deal with shit.
-changes in hippocampal cytoarchitecture after chronic stress have been associated with changes in mood and cognition.
(stress-indiced change in behavior; ELS exerts acute and long-term effects on neuroendocrine, cognitive, and behavioral systems.)
-Lab animals: exposed to stress during development -> adverse short- and long-term cognitive disfunction + abnormal behavior
--associated with alterations in normal physiology and genetic regulation of HPA axis (Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal axis)
---adults sress response appear to be mediated (in part) thru effects of developmental stress in neural systems that deal with fear expression
----But also: quality of maternal care early in development may molify bad effects though the lifespan
Recap: Because this writing is excessively technical: Adult stress response depends on what came before it. Early Life Stress, especially, can wreck long-term (and also short-term) terror on an individual's ability to deal with stress. Their response, on the ontogeny (or every stage of life) if their existence, is affected negatively.
Chronic stress causes pathological damage.
There is evidence: lab animals abused by their scientist handlers then have cognitive and behavioral dysfunction. Scientists attribute some of this to alterations along the Hypothalamic-Pitutitary-Adrenal axis in the brain.
The good news: good mothering can make up for this. A bit.
You are here:
►Trauma exposure and neglect during both early life and adulthood substantially elevate adult risk for mood and anxiety disorders and alter hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis physiology. Exposure to a depressed mother either in utero or in the first months of life may also alter the HPA axis. - See more at: http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/ptsd/biological-consequences-and-transgenerational-impact-violence-and-abuse#sthash.TvZeiOI8.dpuf
--Analyze that.
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