Nature and nurture have been established as two interconnected realities that work together to make up the human experience, rather than as enemies or utter opposites. Nature was made to be nurtured.
Many recent and well-known studies have revealed the impact of early childhood experiences on the brain's physical and chemical makeup. Childhood maltreatment and/or neglect, in particular, can permanently change a person's physiology. These physiological changes may increase the person's risk of developing depression or anxiety later in life.
In a groundbreaking study of depressive women in the United States, researchers discovered that women who were abused as children have abnormally high hormonal responses to stress compared to women who have never been molested. It suggests that childhood abuse is linked to permanent hyperactivity of the stress-related hormonal system, which could lead to a higher risk of psychiatric illnesses later in life.
Dr. Charles Nemeroff of Emory University led the study, which looked at women with clinical depression who had been abused as children, depressed women who had never been molested, and healthy women. Each person was put through a mildly stressful event before being asked to solve simple math questions aloud in front of a panel of seven non-expressive judges.
Each subject's cortisol and ACTH levels (two hormones that play a key role in a person's stress response) were monitored as she completed the activity. The levels of these hormones were found to be unusually high among women who had been mistreated as children and who were currently depressed. Their ACTH response markers were more than six times higher than those of healthy women.
In addition to high levels of stress hormones, other research by the same group discovered that women who had been abused as children had aberrant hippocampal development, suggesting that early abuse may have another physical consequence that could lead to lasting brain abnormalities later in life.
Early maltreatment or neglect might also have an impact on other brain systems. While the brain's fundamental unit is there at birth, neural circuits that control the body's response to various stimuli are still growing.
The majority of these pathways are created during a vital period in a child's first three years of life. Early in life, a child's pathways for developing lasting relationships and responding to pleasant events might be impeded or damaged if he or she is exposed to mostly negative stimulus. While this may be a reflex to help the youngster survive, it can produce long-term problems for the person.
According to other studies, severely neglected children's brains are smaller than typical, with underdeveloped cortical areas. The long-term consequences of this are still being investigated, but it demonstrates another another way that nurture, or the absence thereof, can influence a person's biological make-up.
The understanding that nature and nurture are two critical parts of a person's health will definitely prove to be a highly important tool in the investigation and treatment of psychiatric illness in the future, and may lead to even more successful treatments.
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