Early Life Stress can have Lasting Negative Impacts on the Brain

Early exposure to stress can have lasting effects on the brain, according to a recent study published in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

For the study, researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison examined the effects of high stress levels on a child's brain and found that chronic stress such as poverty, neglect and physical abuse often resulted in negative and lasting health issues.

"We haven't really understood why things that happen when you're 2, 3 or 4 years old stay with you and have a lasting impact," said Seth Pollak, co-leader of the study and UW-Madison professor of psychology, in a news release. "Given how costly these early stressful experiences are for society ... unless we understand what part of the brain is affected, we won't be able to tailor something to do about it."

For the study, researchers examined 128 children, all 12, who had suffered from physical abuse or neglect and were part of low-income households.

The children and their caretakers were interviewed, with a focus on certain behavioral issues. The researchers studied images of the hippocampus and amygdale--areas of the brain that are responsible for emotion and stress processing.

Researchers then compared the answers and images to children of the same age who were part of middle-class families.

Findings revealed that children who experienced stress early in life had smaller amygdalas when compared to those who did not experience the same levels of stress.

The stressed children also had a smaller hippocampus, which have been linked to behavioral problems in previous studies.

"For me, it's an important reminder that as a society we need to attend to the types of experiences children are having," Pollak said. "We are shaping the people these individuals will become."