New Research on Epigenetic Changes of Abused Children with PTSD

“The research, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that abused children who develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may experience a biologically distinct form of the disorder from PTSD caused by other types of trauma later in life.”

“The authors examined their blood cells, looking for genetic changes that distinguished people with the disorder who had been abused from those who had not. To focus on changes associated with PTSD diagnosis rather than trauma exposure alone, they looked for differences not seen in the resilient group.”

“These genetic alterations are known as epigenetic changes: chemical differences that don’t mutate the DNA itself but affect how actively and efficiently the genes are made into proteins. By either silencing or activating genes, epigenetic changes can influence everything from brain development and functioning to the risk for certain diseases. While not necessarily permanent, some of these changes can last a lifetime and some can even be passed on to the next generation.

“In PTSD with a history of child abuse, we found a 12-fold higher [level] of epigenetic changes,” says Mehta. In contrast, people who experienced trauma later in life showed genetic effects that tended to be short-lived, and did not permanently alter the function of the genes.”

“Understanding the different ways that people can develop PTSD could have implications for how the condition is treated. The epigenetic changes were mostly different between the two groups, even if both sets of aberrations ultimately resulted in PTSD, suggesting different ways to potential treat the PTSD depending on its origins.“This study implies that it is essential to take into account the trauma history of an individual,” says Mehta, “Individuals with the same diagnosis might need different treatments depending on their environmental endowments together with their genetic predispositions.”

Read the entire article at Abused Children May Get Unique Form of PTSD [Time 4/30/12 by Maia Szalavitz]

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