The Behavioral Medicine Report

Psychological trauma leaves a trail of damage in a child’s brain, say scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. Their new study gives the first direct evidence that children with symptoms of post-traumatic stress suffer poor function of the hippocampus, a brain structure that stores and retrieves memories. The research helps explain why traumatized children behave as they do and could improve treatments for these kids. “The brain doesn’t divide between biology and psychology,” said Packard Children’s child psychiatrist Victor Carrion, MD, the primary author of the new research. “We can use the knowledge we get from understanding brain function to improve the psychology of the individual and vice versa.” (continue reading)