Mutation and Methylation May Worsen the Effects of Child Abuse

It is common knowledge in the psychology field that while child abuse affects all survivors in a negative way, some survivors are affected much more severely than others. While some survivors can work through their past, others seem to be permanently affected by their experiences – people who have been abused as children are at higher risk for mental disorders and suicide. Previously, psychologists had a hard time predicting how much people will be affected by their past traumas.

However, according to Science Daily, researchers at the Max Plank Institute for Psychiatry may have found an epigenetic explanation as to why some people are permanently affected while some are not. Earlier this year, researchers have discovered that child abuse may cause permanent epigenetic changes in the way the body handles stress. The researchers from Max Plank built on the earlier research and discovered that people with a specific variation of the FKPB5 gene are at much greater risk to be permanently affected by traumatic experiences in their childhood than those without the gene. In particular, the trauma involved in child abuse causes a methyl group to be broken off and change the way the body responds to stress. Those who have the variant gene but have suffered only traumatic experiences in their adult years do not carry the same risk.

Research such as this is important because it stresses the importance of identifying and stopping child abuse. As a child abuse survivor, I’ve noticed that many people – including some teachers and other people who work closely with children – have a hard time understanding that child abuse greatly affects people of all backgrounds. You don’t know who has that variant gene by looking at someone, but you can treat all people with respect and speak out against abuse when you see it. I hope that this research will help others understand the severity of child abuse and take steps to end child abuse for once and for all.