The effects of childhood abuse on its victims are penetrating. These effects can be emotional, social, and spiritual. The impact of the abuse depends on the victim and circumstances of the abuse. According to Glaser (2000), besides the psychological effects of childhood abuse, which cause much self defeating behavior in adulthood, there are other more serious, life altering effects. Studies show that many victims of child abuse grow up to be drug addicts and most drug addicts have had an abusive childhood (Umeno, Morita, Ikeda, Koda, & Abe, 2009). It has now been discovered that there is a biochemical reason that this happens. Scientific findings show that being a victim of child abuse can contribute to addiction in adulthood because the abuse can cause profound and possibly irreversible damage to the structure, function and chemistry of the brain. Kaufman, Plotsky, Nemeroff and Charney (2000) claim that because child abuse occurs during a crucial period of brain development, neurobiology reveals that trauma such as physical, emotional and sexual abuse has a substantial impact on the brain. It has also been discovered that the more severe the abuse, the more impact there is on brain function (Bremner, 2005). It has been found that abused children have abnormal brain wave patterns. Child abuse victims suffer damage to important brain structures like the cortex, which is related to rational thinking. Panzer (2008) describes that some of the most dramatic damage is seen in the limbic system. The limbic system is the midbrain region that regulates memory and emotion. The limbic system also is involved in motivation and emotional behaviors (Bremner, 2005). This region contains two deep lying brain structures, the amygdala and hippocampus. The hippocampus determines what information coming in will be stored in the long term memory. Damage to the hippocampus can be emotionally troubling and debilitating to the victim. Kaufman et. al. (2000) explain that the hippocampus is the control center for most of the body’s hormonal systems and is essential for processing emotions and memories. Children with hippocampal damage tend to be hyperactive. Trauma to the hippocampus can also result in memory loss, which may explain why many abused children forget their abuse soon after it happens (Panzer, 2008). The amygdala’s primary job is to filter and interpret incoming sensory information in relation to the individual’s survival and emotional need and then help initiate the proper response. The amygdala assists us in being able to take quick action when faced with a dangerous or threatening situation (Glaser, 2000). Ongoing abuse causes the amygdala to alert us to danger even when a threat does not exist. According to Kaufman et. al. (2000), damage to the amygdala causes impairment to the ability to learn new emotions as well as the ability to react appropriately in certain situations. A damaged amygdala can make an abused child jump in fear even when not threatened. The hippocampus and amygdala are found to be smaller in abused individuals (Bremner, 2005). Also, both of these areas of the brain are crucial for learning. Panzer (2008) states that it has also been found that the greater the reduction in size to the hippocampus, the more severe in symptoms. While the changes are effective in the short term, Kaufman et. al. (2000) describe that in the long term they result in a variety of physiological, behavioral, cognitive, social and psychological consequences that may be permanent. These changes in the brain take place in an attempt to adapt to an unsafe environment and ensure survival (Panzer, 2008). Damage to these important brain structures result in a variety of psychological and physiological symptoms like post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), dissociative identity disorders (multiple personality disorder), antisocial behavior, borderline personality disorder, irrational fear, aggression, increased risk of suicide, sexual promiscuity, impaired ability to learn and concentrate, and self destructive behaviors (Glaser,2000). All this damage to brain function and structure is also associated with serious changes in brain chemistry. When a child is exposed to continuous and overwhelming stress early in life it alters the production and release of their stress regulating hormones like cortisol and essential neurotransmitters that are involved in the addiction process, like epinephrine, dopamine, serotonin and GABA (Panzer, 2008). Miller, Kinnally, Ogden, Oquendo and Mann (2009) state in their study that survivors of abuse typically have lower than normal levels of important neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine, and GABA receptors are altered. When a child lives with ongoing stress like abuse, the brain stimulates the release of high levels of neurotransmitters and stress hormones (Panzer, 2008). Bremner (2005) discusses how the continuous release of stress hormones is one of the primary effects of child abuse. Since the abuse is ongoing, an abused child’s brain is releasing these neurotransmitters in excessive amounts on a continuous basis, which ultimately causes great damage. According to research Miller et. al. (2009) state that when neurotransmitters are stimulated excessively, over time as this continues, the neurotransmitters receptors become unresponsive or desensitized and eventually the brain no longer produces and releases adequate levels of neurotransmitters. This causes the child to become an adult who suffers with anxiety, depression, mood disorders, hyperactivity, cravings for carbohydrates, alcohol or drugs as well as impaired attention span (Kaufman et. al., 2000). The abused child is used to having high levels of those crucial neurotransmitters and is conditioned to engage in other behaviors that will keep them released. So they eat sugar, smoke cigarettes, drink caffeine and use drugs and alcohol to maintain those levels. Since these substances only boost the neurotransmitters temporarily, they continually need more (Khantzian, 1985). In other words, abused children are biochemically set up to become addicts. Additionally, when we are under stress sugar is released into the blood stream. So a child living with abuse is having sugar pumped into their system pretty much all the time. According to Glaser (2000), this sets the child up for Candida overgrowth, sugar addiction, hypoglycemia, adrenal exhaustion and all the other health problems associated with excess sugar. Additionally, these excessively high levels of neurotransmitters and stress hormones also damage and inhibit the growth of neurons in the brain (Bremner, 2005). When the stress persists for a long time, the neurons shrink in size and will even die. Neurons are cells that send and receive electro-chemical signals to and from the brain and nervous system. The neurons are also where the neurotransmitter receptors reside. Neurotransmitters are the chemical messengers used in this process. Without an adequate supply of neurons, neurotransmitters cannot be released or received properly (Miller et. al., 2009). Communication from the brain to the nervous system and other parts of the body malfunctions. Again, this is the all important issue of the reward pathway and those crucial neurotransmitters dopamine, serotonin and GABA that leads to addiction. So many abused children grow up to be addicts because their neurotransmitters have been damaged and depleted by the abuse. Miller et. al. (2009) claim that malfunctioning neurotransmitters result in feelings of depression, anxiety, fatigue, irritability, hyperactivity, fear, PTSD, cravings for food, alcohol and drugs and much more. The brain of adult survivors of child abuse have chemical messengers that aren’t produced in sufficient numbers or they produce too many, they aren’t connecting properly, and they miscommunicate. Glaser (2000) states that “abused children grow into adults who have neurotransmitters that have gone haywire and result in a variety of uncomfortable, sometimes crippling physiological and psychological symptoms” (pp. 101). Weiss, Griffin, and Mirin (1992) believe that addicts attempt to balance out, calm down or rev up the neurochemicals in the brain with drugs. People who have been abused tend to develop a variety of self defeating beliefs about themselves, their lives and the world (Khantzian, 1985). In a study conducted by Schiff, Levit, and Cohen-Moreno (2010) drug addicted patients who had been abused expressed that they view bad events in a self-blaming way, which undermines self-esteem and encourages depression and helplessness. This type of thinking has a negative impact on brain chemistry as well, and this sets up another vicious cycle of interfering in neurotransmitter functioning even more, which only amplifies and perpetuates the negative thinking pattern. Another one of the main systems impacted by the excessive and continuous release of stress hormones is the stress response system of the body (Panzer, 2008). The primary system involved in the body’s stress response system is known as the HPA axis, which involves a complex interaction between the hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenal glands. As explained by Kaufman et. al. (2000), when a person is under stress, the hypothalamus releases a hormone called corticotrophin releasing factor (CRF), which then flows through your pituitary gland and stimulates the release of adrenocoricotrophic hormone (ACTH), which then stimulates the adrenal glands to release cortisol. This process makes you feel alert and gives you the energy needed to deal with a stressful event. Normally, once the stressful event passes, the hormones recede. However, in the case of child abuse, the threat never passes, therefore the HPA axis never stops releasing hormones and eventually burns itself out, resulting in a hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenal glands that do not function properly (Bremner,2005). According to a study by Miller et. al. (2009) several neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine, are needed for regulating the HPA axis. And if these neurotransmitters are first being excessively stimulated and then not being produced and released sufficiently, this leaves the HPA axis more vulnerable to malfunction. A malfunctioning HPA axis is associated with a variety of psychological and physical symptoms like panic attacks, chronic anxiety, insomnia, PTSD, ADHD, depression, alcoholism and addiction (Glaser, 2000). During fearful circumstances like abuse, stress floods the brain with cortisol repetitively and excessively. Panzer (2008) explains that a child living with child abuse has adrenal glands that never get a break as their body is continually releasing high levels of cortisol. In attempt to adapt to this situation, the brain then lowers the threshold at which cortisol is produced to a dramatically lower level, however, the system remains in a hypersensitive state. This results in a multitude of psychological symptoms. When there is constant release of cortisol, this can also cause adrenal gland exhaustion. Adrenal glands have a crucial role in maintaining blood sugar, producing hormones, and managing stress and fatigue. Schnieders, Rassaerts, Schafer, and Soyka (2006) claim that in an attempt to self medicate the many symptoms associated with inability to manage stress, the abused individual often turns to drugs. Typically, when a child is a victim of abuse neurophysiological changes are not reversible. The stress response system of the body becomes sensitized. It now reacts to stressful situations in a much more non dramatic manner. This phenomenon is similar to the changes that take place in neurotransmitter receptors like that seen in sensitization to cocaine (Weiss, et. al., 1992). These changes result in symptoms like hyper-vigilance, increased startle response, affective disorders, anxiety and PTSD (Bremner, 2005). Glaser (2000) discusses that it is believed by neuroscientists that a variety of factors such as the nature of the trauma, the degree to which the body is threatened and the family support system after the trauma has a great impact on how severe the effects of child abuse will be, the level of neurological damage and the extent of symptoms that an abused individual may experience. Someone who endures life threatening abuse, for example, will suffer more neurological damage than someone who was abused in a less threatening situation (Kaufman et. al., 2000). The age in which the abuse occurs also seems to influence which set of symptoms the abused person gets, because different areas of the brain are developing at different ages. It is believed that abuse that occurs before age four may result in different symptoms than those exhibited in children who are abused later in childhood (Glaser, 2000). This explains why there is such a wide variety of symptoms found in abused individuals and why some people exhibit more symptoms than others. Unfortunately, for those who have been abused their entire life beginning in infancy and ending when they left home as a young adult, the neurological damage is pretty extensive and could include a whole possibility of symptoms (Kaufman et. al. ,2000). Being nurtured is a necessary component to thrive and provides healthy stimulation to neurotransmitters. Glaser (2000) believes that when a child doesn’t feel loved, nurtured, connected and worthwhile, this too has a very powerful negative impact on neurotransmitters. So while being not feeling love and nurtured are emotional effects of child abuse, they are deeply interconnected with the physiological and perpetuate the vicious cycle of damage to brain chemistry (Glaser, 2000). Interestingly, the research of Kaufman et. al. (2000) shows that if some type of intervention takes place, some damage to the brain can be changed. Bremner (2005) believes that the more time that passes between the actual abuse and the initiation of intervention, the more the neurological damage will be. The extent of the effects of child abuse can be staggering. So called psychological symptoms like anxiety, depression, fear, irritability, mood disorders, and fatigue that are so typical for survivors of child abuse and neglect are actually physiological in nature (Khantzian, 1985). This indicates how deeply intertwined the mind and body are. The effects can create problems in the social, emotional and spiritual arenas that can and often do lead to drug addiction (Schnieders et. al., 2006). Studies have shown that more devastatingly, with so many neurological issues working against them, a survivor of child abuse literally does not feel capable of functioning in the world (Umeno et. al., 2009). Drugs are used as a coping mechanism. Weiss et. al. (1992) believes the use of drugs reduces the state of dissatisfaction with life and numbs the pain felt from neurotransmitters malfunctioning. The drugs can possibly offer some relief from depression brought on by low levels of neurotransmitters. Damage to important brain structures, resulting in emotional disconnect, may cause one to reach out for drugs as a means to feel differently (Brajevic-Gizdic, Mulic, Pletikosa & Kljajic, 2009). The inability to process certain emotional issues due to the damage done by the abuse on certain brain regions, may trigger one to turn to drugs (Schnieders et. al., 2006). Much research has been done about the possible consequences of child abuse. The effects vary, depending on the circumstances of the abuse, the environment of the child, and the personality of the child (Bremner, 2005). The effects may be mild or severe and can affect the child psychologically, behaviorally and biologically. Many studies support that the vast majority of drug addicts are victims of some type of abuse in the childhood (Umeno et. al., 2009). Child abuse can have detrimental effects and make long term changes to the structure and function of the brain. The relation between drug addiction and these alterations of the brain are undeniable. A study by Schiff et. al. (2010) states that drug addicts admitted to self medicating in an attempt to relieve psychological symptoms. While it could be debatable that child abuse can be a direct cause of drug addiction, the effects the abuse has on the brain is certain.

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