It has been known for quite a while, that those who are abused as children have a greater chance of becoming abusers themselves. The argument is over why this occurs. Are the abusers merely repeating behavior they learned as a child, or has the abuse caused a change in brain processes that govern emotion?
A new study published in the journal Behaviorial Neuroscience, believes it may have found at least part of the answer. The scientists who conducted this study followed the behavior of monkeys who had been abused when they were young. As expected, these monkeys turned out to be more susceptible to abusing their own young.
They tested the levels of serotonin in the brains of adult monkeys who had been abused when they were young. They found that the serotonin levels in the brains of monkeys that abused their young were 10%-20% lower than serotonin levels in the brains of monkeys that did not abuse their young.
University of Chicago researcher Dario Maestripieri said, "Our results suggest that the system is affected by early trauma, early experience, and that these long-term changes in the brain might contribute to the occurrence of abusive parenting in adulthood. I think we've made another step forward in understanding exactly how early experience affects this inter-generational transmission of abuse."
The researchers believe that because humans and monkeys are so close genetically, the same changes may be occurring in the human brain as a result of child abuse. If this is proven to be true, it is possible that abusers could be treated with drugs that raise the serotonin level in the brain.
I'm not sure this is the answer. I suspect that in humans, part of the problem is learned behavior. However, child abuse is a blight on humanity and has been proven to be very hard to predict and control. It cuts across ethnic and class lines, and affects us all.
If medical treatments of serotonin can prevent future abuse, then I'm am for it. But we are probably years away from knowing for sure.
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