Childhood Abuse Disrupts Brain Formation, Harvard Study Says

Childhood abuse leads to permanent changes in a seahorse-shaped area of the brain that can cause adult depression and drug abuse, Harvard researchers said in a study that raises the possibility of new treatment.

Brain scans of adults who averaged 22 years old showed differences in a part of the brain where new neurons are generated, according to the study today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. People exposed to childhood abuse were found in the study to have a less-dense hippocampus.