Brain Study - Childhood Sexual Abuse Linked To Drug Use
The physiological link between sexual abuse and drug use has tentatively been found.
It has long been widely accepted that early childhood sexual abuse can predispose an individual to later substance abuse. But how?This study was published in January 2002, so the information has been available for about ten years. Funny that it is not common knowledge by now.
Now, a new study combining brain imaging with information gathered from a questionnaire assessing symptoms of subjective distress and discomfort provides evidence of a neuroanatomical mechanism by which early childhood trauma could lead to drug abuse or other behavioral problems.
In the study, published in the January [2002] issue of Psychoneuroendocrinology, Carl Anderson, PhD., and colleagues at McLean Hospital, in Belmont, Mass., found that repeated sexual abuse in childhood may be correlated with changes in blood flow and function in a key region of the cerebellum, known as the cerebellar vermis.
At the same time, they found that those changes were significantly related to scores on a questionnaire used to rate symptoms of irritability in the limbic system of the brain, known to be involved in regulation of emotions, attention, and judgment.
The study was small (24 people total - 8 abused kids and 16 controls) so the findings are not definitive. But they correlate well with the findings of Dr. Lonnie Shavelson detailed in his book Heroin. And what did Dr. Shavelson find?
About 70% of female heroin users were sexually abused as children.
Is it possible to get the government to stop further abusing abused kids? Or is a modicum of morality and human kindness too much to ask from our government? Heck is it too much to ask from the people supporting Drug Prohibition? In my experience so far the answer is YES. It is too much to ask from them.
Say. Isn't America supposed to be a Christian Country? Yes it is. In the same way the Inquisition was a Christian operation. Or the way Martin Luther hated Jews. Ya gotta love Christian Morality. And them Christians are so proud of it. Isn't it time for another Reformation or something? Could we please avoid the Jew hatred this time? How about ending all hatred? You know "Love thy neighbor as thyself." Pardon me but isn't that a Jewish concept? Yes it is.
OTOH some Christians get it.
H/T Drug Policy Forum Of Texas
Cross Posted at Classical Values
Posts
5 comments:
And yet you see no connection between the sexual abuse of male children and their subsequent homosexuality?
You got a link?
What? You never noticed any of the links where I posted this over at Classic Values?
Here is one. There are others, but i've switched computers a few times since I used to compile such links. I no longer have a ready reference on this issue.
http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/280/21/1855.full.pdf+html
Here is a small sample survey of 205 Homosexuals.
http://www.peoplecanchange.com/change/causesurvey.pdf
A Medical Article.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1525-1497.1997.012004250.x/abstract
A Bunch of links from google scholar.
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Homosexual+Sexual+abuse&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart
OK. So why aren't you full on about child abuse if hosexuality and drug "addiction" are your issues.
BTW homosexuality is epigenetic if your points are correct i.e. you need a predisposition plus a trigger. And depending if telomeres are an issue there could be generational effects. We do know that the more boys a woman has the more likely the next one will be homosexual.
But genetics are funny. Some genes might code for homosexuality. Some may merely predispose and there may be other factors like hormones in the womb.
Those hormones appear to affect math ability in women.
Hormones and math ability
My daughter was so happy when she found out she had math fingers.
===
Doesn't all this point out that making laws is a bad idea? Because laws are one size fits all.
In other words the fewer laws the better.
That dang old libertarian thing rears its ugly head.
OK. So why aren't you full on about child abuse if homosexuality and drug "addiction" are your issues.
As I have repeated ad infinitum, the barriers people see between one thing and another do not exist. They are barriers of perception only. It is all one big interconnected piece, and like a strange attractor in Chaos logic, there are Islands of stability in the entire swirl.
The system needs to be nudged towards a more stable equilibrium and before this can happen one needs to understand what the various components do.
At this point, intellectual engagement is part of the Answer. Physical engagement is also part of the Answer but one can only work so hard and so fast. :) (That is, if you want to do something before the next tytler cycle event.)
BTW homosexuality is epigenetic if your points are correct i.e. you need a predisposition plus a trigger. And depending if telomeres are an issue there could be generational effects. We do know that the more boys a woman has the more likely the next one will be homosexual.
I believe this is essentially correct. Predisposition (in most cases) plus a trigger. However, I believe Human sexuality is so fluid, (The Genes are designed to work in either sex) that sufficient social conditioning will expand the window to otherwise non disposed persons. In other words, given sufficient conditioning, non homosexuals can be turned into homosexuals.
Also, there is an article amongst the links in Google Scholar asserting that birth control pills seem to be increasing the likelihood of lesbianism in the female offspring, So we can't overlook a possible chemical component from modern life.
But genetics are funny. Some genes might code for homosexuality. Some may merely predispose and there may be other factors like hormones in the womb.
Pretty much the same thing I said above.
Doesn't all this point out that making laws is a bad idea?
I don't follow. You must have some laws. The Absence of law is the precursor to the rise of a king, (or head goon, however you want to characterize it.) who will then impose HIS laws.
Because laws are one size fits all.
And this is my common criticism of the legal system. If laws were geometry, they would simplemindedly describe a Maltese cross as a square. It is often too difficult to write simple laws to describe complex shapes, so invariably there are areas that are covered too far, and areas that are not covered enough.
In other words the fewer laws the better.
I agree. And they should be easy for the common man to understand as well.
That dang old libertarian thing rears its ugly head.
The notion that laws should be simple and fair is not exclusively a Libertarian notion. You should read some Edmund Burke as I keep mentioning from time to time. :)
Post a Comment