Search

Long-term consequences of aversive childhood experiences: effects on cerebral structures Abstract. Early childhood stress experiences due to neglect, and physical, psychological or sexual abuse can lead to permanent changes in central nervous structures. The central nervous system generally shows a very high plasticity in early childhood. Objectively, these influences are reflected in functional and structural-morphological changes in certain brain areas. Subjectively, they are manifested through changes in cognitive, emotional, perceptive and social experiencing. This review aims to summarize the current status of the limited number of studies with human subjects on the consequences of early childhood stress experiences with focus on the central nervous system.

Long-term consequences of aversive childhood experiences: effects on pain processing Abstract. Childhood experiences of stress due to neglect, physical, psychological or sexual abuse often lead to lasting changes in pain processing. Clinically, this is shown, among other things, in an increased sensitivity to pain, a stronger negative-affective connotation of pain and ultimately an increased risk of pain disorders in adulthood. George L. Engel already postulated in the 1960s a child's experience of stress can affect later pain behaviors. This narrative review sets out to summarize the current state of knowledge.

Consequences of aversive childhood experiences: effects on the neuroendocrine system Abstract. Childhood experiences of stress due to neglect, physical, psychological or sexual abuse lead in many cases to permanent changes in the stress-regulating neuroendocrine processes. Epidemiological studies already showed 20 years ago that the extent of childhood stressors correlates with the occurrence of various somatic, functional and psychological diseases in adulthood and that cumulative stressors are also reflected in a significantly reduced average life expectancy. The altered stress-related endocrine system is of major importance with regard to the pathogenesis of the secondary somatic, functional and psychological disorders mentioned above.

Long-term consequences of aversive childhood experiences: effects on the incidence of psychiatric illnesses Abstract. Early childhood stress experiences through physical, psychological and sexual abuse as well as emotional or physical neglect often lead to permanent changes in the psychological well-being. Clinically, this is shown among other things in an increased incidence of various psychiatric disorders. This narrative survey aims to summarize the current status of existing studies on early childhood stress experiences and related psychiatric consequences. Scientific publications from the online libraries PubMed, PsycINFO and GoogleScholar served as the database. The search was conducted under the keywords Adversive Childhood Events (ACE), Adverse Childhood, Childhood Trauma, Psychiatric Disorders, Health Consequences as well as their German translations. The search resulted in 46 studies to be considered.

Functional body disorders Abstract. By definition, functional disorders cannot be conceptualized bio-morphologically at the organ level. They originate on the basis of dysregulated control processes and perceptional alterations at a superordinate level of the organism. Under excessive stress, any vegetatively regulated system might develop functional disorders. Hence they can also be observed in veterinary medicine. The «incongruence» between the organic findings and the symptoms reported represents a diagnostic challenge, which general practitioners, due to the high prevalence of functional disorders are confronted with on a daily basis. Therefore a comprehensible explanatory model is needed in order to build trust and to motivate the patient for treatment. The new S3 guidelines «functional disorders» provide constructive and pragmatic information for the adequate treatment of patients with functional disorders.