Childhood Psychological Abuse and Adult Brain Function in a Large Psychiatric Cohort
Poster No:
676
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
David Keator1,2,3, Frank Salgado3, Prakruthi Praveen3, Sydnyy Murray3, Daniel Amen4,5
Institutions:
1University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, 2Change Your Brain, Change Your Life Foundation, Costa Mesa, CA, 3Amen Clinics, Costa Mesa, CA, 4Change Your Brain Change Your Life Foundation , Costa Mesa, CA, 5 Amen Clinics Inc., N/A
First Author:
David Keator, M.S., Ph.D.
University of California, Irvine|Change Your Brain, Change Your Life Foundation|Amen Clinics
Irvine, CA|Costa Mesa, CA|Costa Mesa, CA
University of California, Irvine|Change Your Brain, Change Your Life Foundation|Amen Clinics
Irvine, CA|Costa Mesa, CA|Costa Mesa, CA
Co-Author(s):
Introduction:
Childhood trauma such as psychological abuse (i.e. emotional abuse and neglect) has been associated with temporal lobe dysfunction 1,2 and increased frequency of mental health disorders in adulthood 3. Here we study a large adult clinical population and evaluate the relationship between those who report psychological abuse in childhood as measured with the adverse childhood experiences assessment, adult brain function, and behavior.
Methods:
Brain SPECT images were collected on 7,275 patients (mean age= 40.9 +/- 16.3 years; F/M= 3754/3521; mean number of diagnoses=2.4 +/-1.6) during a Connor 's Continuous Performance Test. Each participant received an age/weight-appropriate dose of technetium-99m hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime (Tc-99m HMPAO) intravenously in a dimly lit room and were scanned 30-45 minutes after injection using a InterMedical MultiCam 3000eco triple-headed gamma camera. SPECT data was processed, and attenuation correction performed using general linear (Chang) methods. The SPECT images were spatially registered to the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) space with the SPM12 Statistical Parametric Mapping tool. A voxel-based `one-sample t-test model was used to evaluate differences in cerebral perfusion among those reporting psychological abuse compared to those who did not, including age, sex, scan location, and number of comorbid diagnoses as covariates. Total Brain4 behavioral assessments were available on 2,848 of the patients (mean age=40.3 +/- 14.9 years; F/M= 1146/1098; mean number of diagnoses=2.8 +/- 2.1).
Results:
We found significant increases across bilateral temporal lobe regions and temporo-parietal regions along with decreases in anterior cingulate and bilateral lentiform nucleus, among others, in SPECT-derived brain perfusion of those reporting psychological abuse (Figure 1; Table 1). Statistically, most results did not survive multiple comparison corrections and had small effect sizes (Cohen's D).
For the behavioral data, we found decreases in the patients with psychological abuse in the feeling domain score, averaging over stress control, anxiety control, and depressive mood control (t(1,2846)=-8.04; p<6.39e-16) and immediate memory from the verbal recognition task (t(12846)=-1.75; p<0.04).
The superior temporal lobe has been associated with language (left) and spatial awareness (right) 5; whereas, the medial aspects have been associated with declarative memory, novelty recognition, and detection 6,7. The temporo-parietal junction is involved in multisensory integration, social cognition, and stimulus-driven attention functions8, aberrant function being implicated in depression 9. The anterior cingulate, has been associated with motivation, context-dependent behaviors, cognitive control, and conflict processing 10,11 and along with the precuneus, forms part of the default mode network (DMN). The putamen has been associated with learning and motor control, speech articulation, reward, cognitive function, and addiction 12. Further, substance abuse has been associated with decreased left putamen activation 13 and so has major depressive disorder in response to reward cues 14, both of which we found to have reduced function in those reporting psychological abuse. Taking the neuroimaging results together with the behavioral results, the reduction in feeling domain scores may be related to decreased function in the putamen and anterior cingulate, whereas, the reduction in verbal memory, associated with the increased temporal regions.
For the behavioral data, we found decreases in the patients with psychological abuse in the feeling domain score, averaging over stress control, anxiety control, and depressive mood control (t(1,2846)=-8.04; p<6.39e-16) and immediate memory from the verbal recognition task (t(12846)=-1.75; p<0.04).
The superior temporal lobe has been associated with language (left) and spatial awareness (right) 5; whereas, the medial aspects have been associated with declarative memory, novelty recognition, and detection 6,7. The temporo-parietal junction is involved in multisensory integration, social cognition, and stimulus-driven attention functions8, aberrant function being implicated in depression 9. The anterior cingulate, has been associated with motivation, context-dependent behaviors, cognitive control, and conflict processing 10,11 and along with the precuneus, forms part of the default mode network (DMN). The putamen has been associated with learning and motor control, speech articulation, reward, cognitive function, and addiction 12. Further, substance abuse has been associated with decreased left putamen activation 13 and so has major depressive disorder in response to reward cues 14, both of which we found to have reduced function in those reporting psychological abuse. Taking the neuroimaging results together with the behavioral results, the reduction in feeling domain scores may be related to decreased function in the putamen and anterior cingulate, whereas, the reduction in verbal memory, associated with the increased temporal regions.
Conclusions:
In this study we found psychological abuse in childhood to be associated with increases in temporal networks and decreases in basal ganglia and default mode network regions. In future work we will evaluate differences in psychological abuse by the sex assigned at birth and understand how other forms of childhood abuse (e.g. sexual abuse, violence, etc.), as measured with the ACE assessment, are associated with brain function and behavior.
Disorders of the Nervous System:
Psychiatric (eg. Depression, Anxiety, Schizophrenia) 1
Higher Cognitive Functions:
Executive Function, Cognitive Control and Decision Making 2
Keywords:
ADULTS
Psychiatric
Psychiatric Disorders
Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT)
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
Provide references using author date format
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