Child Abuse Causes Lifelong Changes To DNA Expression And Brain

This study confirms what many in the trauma field already know - that child abuse permanently alters the brain. Now we know it also alters DNA - so it can actually impact evolution. The stress response - cortisol - apparently can seriously change brain function (shrinking the hippocampus and enlarging the amygdala) and can also change gene expression at the DNA level.

Child Abuse Causes Lifelong Changes To DNA Expression And Brain
A study led by researchers in Canada who analysed post mortem brain samples of suicide victims with a history of being abused in childhood found changes in DNA expression that were not present in suicide victims with no childhood abuse history or in people who died of other causes. The affected DNA was in a gene that regulates the way the brain controls the stress response.

The research was the work of scientists from the Douglas Mental Health University Institute and McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, and the Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences and was published online on 22 February in Nature Neuroscience.

Previous studies have shown that child abuse or neglect changes the hormonal stress response and increases the risk of suicide in the victim. Animal studies show that maternal care can influence the expression of genes that control the stress response.

In this study the researchers looked at samples of the hippocampus from human suicide victims with a history of childhood abuse. The hippocampus is a region of the brain that plays a key role in regulating the stress response.

They found changes in expression of the NC3R1 gene that were not present in suicide victims with no history of being abused in childhood. The changes weren't present in people who had died of other causes either.

For the study the researchers used samples from 36 brains: 12 came from suicide victims who had been abused as children, 12 came from suicide victims who had no such history, and 12 came from people who had died of other causes (the controls).

The researchers found that the child abuse victims had different "epigenetic" markings in a part of the brain that influences the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) function, a stress-response that increases suicide risk.

This finding builds on an earlier study published in May last year that showed how child abuse can leave "epigenetic" marks on DNA.

Epigenetics studies the way that DNA is expressed: that is when the code behaves in a way that is not exactly what the DNA program says. DNA itself, the fundamental code, is inherited from the person's biological parents and remains fixed through a person's lifetime.

But the genes in the DNA are coated with a layer of chemicals called DNA methylation. These chemicals influence how the DNA is interpreted and they can be affected by changes in the environment, especially in early life such as when the new embryo is made, in the womb, and then later in childhood.

Co-author Dr Gustavo Turecki, associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University and who practices at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, said:

"We know from clinical experience that a difficult childhood can have an impact on the course of a person's life."

"Now we are starting to understand the biological implications of such psychological abuse", added fellow co-investigator Moshe Szyf, a professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics at McGill.

The interaction between environment and DNA plays a key role in our ability to resist and deal with stress and this affects the risk of suicide, said the researchers. Epigenetic marks are the product of DNA and environment.

The researchers found that different types of care from the mothers changed the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) function in rats by altering the receptors in the brain. In earlier studies they showed that simple behaviours such as when mothers licked their baby rats in early life had a significant effect on epigentic markings on specific genes that affected behaviour throughout the offsprings' lives.

But they also found that these epigenetic marks can be changed in adulthood with treatments that change the DNA coating: the treatment is called DNA methylation and it reverses the change to the stress response.

The brain samples in this latest study came from the Quebec Suicide Brain Bank and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research and the National Institute of Child Health and Development in the US paid for the research.

"Epigenetic regulation of the glucocorticoid receptor in human brain associates with childhood abuse."
Patrick O McGowan, Aya Sasaki, Ana C D'Alessio, Sergiy Dymov, Benoit Labonté, Moshe Szyf, Gustavo Turecki & Michael J Meaney.
Nature Neuroscience Published online: 22 February 2009.
doi:10.1038/nn.2270

Click here for Abstract.

Sources: Journal abstract, McGill University.

Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD
Re-posted with permission from Integral Options

Safe Places Sexual Violence Support Center

Safe Places now provides a comprehensive range of services to victims of sexual violence in Pulaski County, and statewide through a toll-free sexual violence crisis line.

Crisis intervention, trauma counseling, support groups, hospital accompaniment, criminal justice advocacy, and other supportive services are available for children, youth and adults.

Local hospitals emergency departments who request assistance for individuals who have been sexually assaulted will receive trained advocates at any time of the day or night if the patient desires our services.

Local Sexual Violence Crisis Line: 501-801-2700
Statewide toll free: 1-877-432-5368

Family Violence: Collateral Damage

"Domestic Violence"

We have heard it so much, it begins to mean nothing to us.

"Domestic Violence" is a sterile way to say, "Violence is happening in my family - in my home, in the one place I should feel safe and protected.

In some ways the term itself, and the services we currently provide to victims of family violence, are what I call "old school."

The reality is that family violence also means that children are being exposed to violence at home, and that this exposure is having devastating effects on them. Statistics tell us that 70% of men who batter their spouses are also abusing their children.

(National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information, In Harm’s Way: Domestic Violence and Child Maltreatment, Washington, DC: National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information, 1999)

We are also hearing very disturbing statistics like these:

• Children raised in violent homes are:

6 times more likely to commit suicide

26 times more likely to commit sexual assault

57 times more likely to abuse drugs

74 times more likely to commit other crimes against persons

• A recent study found that children who had witnessed their parents fighting, had IQ scores 8 points lower than their peers. (Development and Psychopathology, June 2003)
  

We must begin addressing family violence in a more holistic manner, in the context of family, and with intentional intervention and prevention services for children. Shelter services are important, but only 3% of women who experience intimate partner violence ever go to a shelter.

Most of the rest are in their homes where the secrets of family violence are securely kept.

A few have found refuge in the homes of friends or family.

We will find them in their communities . . . at work places and PTA meetings, in the grocery store or in the beauty salon, at their place of worship or at civic club meetings.

And their children? We'll find them in the classroom and on the playground.

Those are the places where we must focus our services - in the places where the victims and their children are living and playing and working . . . and acting as normal as possible so that they can keep the secret safe.

"Old school" domestic violence services cannot meet today's need. We have to go to the women and children in their worlds, walk with them on their journeys, encourage them to trust us, and assure them they are not alone anymore.

Our staff at Safe Places learned this very important lesson from one of our clients, an eleven year old victim of family violence who said to his advocate, "Why should I tell you anything? You can't protect me."

He was right. If we continue to do the same things we have always done, providing the same services we have always provided, we will not protect him. It is going to require more of us - more commitment, more creativity, and more attention to the children of family violence.

As he said through his T-Shirt for the Clothesline Project last year:

"Children should get a say. Your life is valuable."

It's Not about the Prince!

We just completed our second annual Cinderella Ball - an enchanting evening and an enormous success for Safe Places. The young women ages 12-17 who participated in our Cinderella Princess Leadership Program ended their year of education and community service by being presented (debutante-style) at this elegant Ball with almost 300 people in attendance.

The Cinderella Ball is most certainly about raising money for Safe Places, because working with children and families who have been devastated by violence is a cause that desperately needs funding.

The Cinderella Ball is most certainly about raising awareness as well, because children are victims of every day of sexual violence, family violence, bullying, child maltreatment, abduction, trafficking, and most every other violent crime one could mention.

But The Cinderella Ball is NOT about debutantes and it is most certainly not about "The Prince." As the Cheetah Girls proclaim in their song, Cinderella:

When I was just a little girl,
My mama used to tuck me into bed,
And she read me a story.
It always was about a princess in distress
And how a guy would save her
And end up with the glory.

I don’t wanna be like Cinderella,
Sitting in a dark, cold, dusty cellar,
Waiting for somebody to come and set me free.
I don’t wanna be like someone waiting
For a handsome prince to come and save me . . .I’d rather rescue myself.

I can slay my own dragons. I can dream my own dreams.
My knight in shining armor is me.
So I'm gonna set me free.

The young women in our program love the enchantment of being presented at the Ball, but what they also know is what they learn as a part of their leadership program: that violence against women and children - sexual violence, domestic abuse, harassment, and violence in any form - is NOT OK!

So The Cinderella Ball and Princess Leadership Program is not about the prince; It's about personal empowerment that allows individuals to live their lives free of violence.

"52 Days of Domestic Violence Flu in America"

I just had to use Safe Places SafeBlog to publish the following Blog post written by former San Diego City Attorney, Casey Gwinn, Esq.

This week I have been reflecting on those that would choose to ignore the importance of dealing with domestic violence in America. After over 30 years of the modern domestic violence movement, we still struggle for funding, we face budget cuts and reductions when the economy goes bad (though domestic violence rises) and we rarely are the primary focus of public policy makers in America. This week the news is consumed with coverage of the swine flu, an important public health issue in America. As of May 2, there have been 167 confirmed cases of the swine flu in the United States and one death. But there has been little news about the mass killings of 68 people across America in the last 52 days, with men doing all the killing and virtually all related to men with a history of violence against women.

Public health officials in the United States fear a global pandemic from the so-called H1-N1 virus. A pandemic is defined as a global outbreak of disease that causes serious illness or death and then spreads easily from person to person worldwide. Pandemics differ from seasonal outbreaks of an illness. The news this week quoted many officials talking about high levels of illness, death, social disruption, and economic loss from pandemics. We must all be vigilant about addressing swine flu in the days ahead. But the pandemic of violence by men against women, men, and children has killed more people in the last 52 days in America than swine flu. This pandemic has been going on now for hundreds of years causing high levels of mental and physical illness, death, social disruption, and economic loss.

There have been 12 mass killings in the last 52 days in the United States. In 11 of the 12, the killer had a history of abuse against women or they were directly related to or defined as domestic violence. 68 people have been killed in those mass killings including 20 children and 7 police officers.

Let's honor those who have been killed in the pandemic of domestic violence flu by identifying their killer and listing them:

March 10 - Michael McLendon, 28, killed ten people, including his mother, grandmother, aunt and uncle, and the wife and child of a local sheriff's deputy in rural Alabama. He then killed himself. The worst mass killing in the history of Alabama killed: Virginia White, 74; James White, 55; Tracy Wise, 34; Dean Wise, 15; James Starling, 34; Lisa McClendon, Michael's mom; Bruce Maloy, 51; Andrea Myers, 31; and Corrine Gracy Myers, 18 months.

March 21 - Lovelle Mixon, a parolee with a history of violence against women, sexual assault, and other violent crimes shot and killed four heroic Oakland police officers - Sgt. Mark Dunakin, 40; Officer John Hege, 41, SWAT Sgt. Ervin Romans, 43; and SWAT Sgt. Daniel Sakai, 35 before he was shot and killed by police.

March 29 - Robert Stewart, 45, shot and killed eight people at Pinelake Health and Rehab Center in Robbins, North Carolina. He came to the center seeking to kill his wife, Wanda Neal, 43, a nurse's assistant. She was working in the Alzheimers Unit when he entered the facility and survived after herding residents into the TV Room and locking the door. The dead included: Tessie Garner, 88; Lillian Dunn, 89, Jessie Musser, 88; Bessie Hendrick, 78; John Goldston, 78; Margaret Johnson, 89; Louise Decker, 98; and Jerry Avent, 39. Jerry was a newly hired nurse at the facility. He was shot 27 times but continued protecting patients until the final shot. Police estimated his efforts saved at least ten others patients and staff members.

March 30 - Devan Kalathat killed six people in a murder-suicide in Santa Clara, California including his children. During his rampage he shot his wife, but she still clings to life in critical condition. Police identified the victims as Kalathat's children: 11-year-old Akhil Dev and 4-year-old Negha Dev; Kalathat's brother-in-law Ashok Appu Poothemkandi, 35, Poothemkandi's wife, Suchitra Sivaraman, 25; and the Poothemkandis' infant daughter, Ahana Ashok.

April 4 - Pittsburgh police officers Eric Kelly, Stephen Mayhle, and Paul Scuillo were shot and killed responding to a "domestic disturbance" call. They were ambushed by Richard Poplawski when they arrived at the house. Officer Eric Kelly was not on duty. He was on his way home to his wife and three daughters when he heard the call on his radio and responded to support his fellow officers.

April 5 - James Harrison killed his five children in Pierce County, WA while his wife was at work. Police confirmed that the couple had a domestic violence incident earlier in the day and the wife had left. The husband demanded that she return and while she was away he methodically shot Maxine, Samantha, Heather, Jamie, and James. The first four children were shot in their beds. The last child was shot as she was running toward the bathroom.

April 5 - Kirby Revelus, 23, killed his 17 year old sister, Samantha and his five year old sister, Bianca. Police officers responding to a domestic violence incident shot and killed him as he was trying to kill his 9 year old sister Sarafina.

April 7 - Kevin Garner fled Greenville, Alabama late in the afternoon after setting fire to his wife's home and car. Hours later, police found his wife and daughter, and her sister and her sister's son shot to death inside the burning home. Garner later shot himself before being apprehended.

April 10 - Two students at Henry Ford Community College were found dead in a murder-suicide in the Fine Arts Building on campus in Dearborn, Michigan. Police determined that Anthony Powell, 28, killed Asia McGowan, 20 with a shotgun and then turned the gun on himself.

April 18 - Christopher Allan Wood, 34, an accountant for a railroad operator, killed his wife, Frances, and his three children in Middletown, Maryland before taking his own life with gunshot to the head. Chandler was 5 years old, Gavin was 4, and his daughter, Fiona, was 2 years old when she was shot and stabbed by her Dad.

April 19 - William Parente, 59, killed his wife, Betty, 58, and daughters Catherine, 11, and Stephanie, 19 before killing himself in Garden City, New York. Each of the victims was killed by asphyxiation and blunt force trauma.

April 25 - University of Georgia professor George Zinkhans shot and killed his wife, Marie Bruce, and two of her friends from a local community theatre group in Bogart, Georgia. Two others were seriously injured by bullet fragments. Her two murdered colleagues were: Ben Teague, 63, and Tom Tanner, 40. More than 200 police officers are currently searching for him the dense woods near Bogart, 60 miles east of Atlanta. Police believe Marie was preparing to get a restraining order, file for divorce, and leave him after a history of domestic violence.

So, we are not done. We all must re-double our efforts to raise awareness, call for more resources in the war by men against women and children. We must call it what it is...it is not Violence AGAINST Women. It is most often Violence BY Men AGAINST Women. All the killers in the mass killings of the last 52 days have been men.

The next time you hear someone say they cannot afford to keep a Family Justice Center or domestic violence program open because of the economy, ask them to read this article. Next time, you hear someone say that we don't need any new, evolving, innovative approaches to family violence prevention because our current service delivery models are doing the job well; ask them to read the list of 68 names from the most recent 52 bloody days of domestic violence in 2009. Don't be silent; don't let elected officials, or policy makers, or bureaucrats, or disinterested community members ignore the tragedy of domestic violence. We must address swine flu in America and around the world but we must also take guns away from men who are violent and start spending the time, energy, and money necessary to stop the pandemic of violence by men against women that is destroying families, killing women, men, and children, and continuing to destroy the lives of so many.

(Casey Gwinn is the former San Diego City Attorney. He founded the internationally recognized San Diego Family Justice Center which is credited with reducing domestic violence homicides in San Diego by over 60%. He currently serves as the President of the National Family Justice Center Alliance which is developing specialized, multi-agency Centers to stop domestic violence across the United States and around the world.}

Just Sharing Casey's Thoughts,

Kathy Findley at Safe Places SafeBlog

A Tragic Anniversary of a Tragic Day

Remembering Columbine High School
April 20, 1999

Teenage shooters spilled the blood of children before Columbine - in Alaska, Arkansas, Mississippi and Oregon.

After Columbine, more blood was shed in Minnesota and California, in Germany and Finland.

The rampage at Columbine High School, where 13 people were gunned down 10 years ago today, casts a dark shadow on each of us. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, seniors at the suburban Denver school, detonated homemade bombs and opened fire with shotguns, a rifle and a semiautomatic handgun on April 20, 1999. They killed 12 students, injured 23 others and mortally wounded a teacher before committing suicide.

The shooting shocked the country like no other. It was the worst school shooting in American history at that time, and it came in the wake of a half-dozen others. Its shadow would stretch across the nation, and its aftermath continues to affect both law enforcement and educators today.

Marion City Schools Superintendent James Barney, who was superintendent of Old Fort Local School District in 1999 said this:

"We at that time sat down with kids, talked about what happened. We invited kids to help us be the eyes."

Barney said that, after Columbine, teachers and administrators became more sensitive to threats.

"We don't say that's just kids talking," he said. "We immediately investigate."

We must also remember Jonesboro Middle School, the shooting at Stamps, at UALR and at UCA, and the attack of a teacher at Sylvan Hills in Sherwood.

Words of a School Shooter

I just remember life not being much fun.
Reject, retard, loser.
I remember stick boy a lot, cause I was so thin.

- Barry Loukaitis, 14, Moses Lake, Washington 1996

A School Shooter's Journal Entry

I am not insane. I am angry.
I am not spoiled or lazy,
for murder is not weak and slow-witted, murder is gusty and daring....
I killed because people like me are mistreated every day....
I am malicious because I am miserable.

- Luke Woodham, Pearl Miss., 1997

School Violence: Is It Bullying Turned Tragic?

Currently in Pulaski County our local school districts seem to be seeing an epidemic of bullying behavior. Safe Places works with more than 1,000 children and youth annually, so we hear what they say and listen to their fears.

These days, we are learning that there is also a new twist to the bullying problem in our local schools. It's what we used to call "tattling" and school officials are sometimes condemning children who "tell" when they are being harassed.

And yet, "telling" is one thing we have taught our children to do in bullying prevention classes.

Bullying is a signal, a red flag. If we don't pay attention to that signal, it is likely that the bully will grow up to be the abusive adult."

- Former AMA president Robert McAfee, MD

Just how common is bullying and harassing behavior?

83% girls and 79% of boys report experiencing harassment

- Bullying, Teasing, and Sexual Harassment in School
(AAUW, 2001)

The CDC reported an average of 16.5 "school-associated homicides" annually
against "a backdrop of 55 million students enrolled in K-12."

What does a parent do?

Most school districts now have an emergency response phone service where parents and guardians can be called or texted quickly if there is a situation at a school.

According to an American Red Cross press release, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that U.S. schools remain relatively safe places. Among children ages 5-18 who were victims of homicide, suicide or legal intervention, less than one percent of those losses happened on school property, at school-sponsored activities, or in traveling to or from school or the activities.

Be prepared
While the chance of such an event as Columbine happening at a local school is statistically remote, the Marion County Chapter of the American Red Cross suggests that people should still take basic steps to be prepared:

• Know how you would communicate with each other during, or immediately following, an emergency. Make sure each member of the household has a current list of key names, phone numbers and addresses, including some close friends, neighbors or relatives;

• Establish a short list of locations where members of the household should meet if a crisis occurs. Work out several possibilities. Choose more than one option because some routes or entire neighborhoods ma be inaccessible under certain conditions;

• If you have school-age children, be familiar with the school's emergency procedures.

• Know whether or not they will keep children at school until a parent or designated adult can pick them up. Ask what kind of authorization may be needed to release a child to someone you designation if you cannot pick them up yourself.

• When your contact information changes, share the changes with the school.

For an online memorial and a list of school shootings, please follow this link.

If your child is being bullied and needs help, contact Safe Places at 501-374-7233 or email amcgraw@safeplaceslr.org.

Money, Money Everywhere!

Money does seem to be everywhere in these days of stimulus. Groups are meeting and talking, scheming and planning, developing smart strategies for getting some of that plenteous stimulus money. For nonprofit organizations like Safe Places, this could well be a dream come true. At best, it could be for us a pot of treasure at the end of a rainbow. At worst, it might result in a few extra dollars to provide a little cushion against disaster.

But there are some problems. Getting any of that money is not going to be easy. Proposals for funding will have to be written quickly, far more quickly than the typical grant proposals we write.

And there will be strings attached. Probably a few more strings than the usual strings that are tied to our grant funding. Finally, there may not be time to think about whether our mission really fits the money that's going to be so stimulating. So in order to make the most of these days, we are going to have to re-visit our mission and be very sure that our actions - and our grant proposals - fall within the guidelines of our mission.

All this really means is that our mission and vision is still our primary guiding light, in seeking money, in planning programs, in serving people. When stimulus money has come and gone, our mission and vision will remain steadfast. So we'd better honor it and follow it, whether money is flowing freely or whether it has dried up.

When all is said and done, the Vision of Safe Places will always be ...

envisioning a world without violence, a world where every child can experience safety, nurture, and opportunities that ensure a future filled with hope.

And our Mission is just as clear:

Safe Places affirms the right of every child to safety, protection, and well-being at home, at school, and in our neighborhoods. To that end, we work in the community to help children and their families break cycles of violence and abuse through counseling, advocacy, support, and education.

Just my thoughts for these glorious days of stimulus,

Kathy at Safe Places SafeBlog