Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Stress may ‘damage child brains’
US scientists discovered a brain structure involved with memory and emotion had shrunk in children with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A withered hippocampus may make a child less able to deal with stress and raise anxiety, Pediatrics journal reports. The children in the study also had higher blood levels of a stress hormone called cortisol, which has been shown to kill hippocampal cells in animals. This could set up a vicious cycle, where high cortisol causes more hippocampal damage, which in turn raises the anxiety.
Posted by Tom Beckman on 03/06 at 11:33 PM
Brain • Children • Memory • PTSD • Stress • (0) Comments • Permalink
Brain • Children • Memory • PTSD • Stress • (0) Comments • Permalink
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