英国一项最新研究发现，遭受家庭暴力的孩子患焦虑症等精神疾病的风险会增加，其大脑发生的变化甚至可以比拟经历残酷战争的士兵大脑发生的变化。
英国伦敦大学学院等机构研究人员在6日新一期《当代生物学》杂志上发表报告说，研究人员在试验中让40多名儿童分别观看悲伤、冷静或生气等不同面部表情的图片，同时用功能磁共振成像技术对他们大脑的活动进行扫描。
在这些孩子中，约一半人曾经遭受过家庭暴力，还因此被送入社会救助机构，这部分孩子的平均年龄为12岁。研究发现，他们在看到生气表情的图片时，大脑中前脑岛和杏仁核两个区域的活动幅度要明显大于那些正常成长的孩子。
据介绍，这两个区域与紧张情绪有关，以前研究人员也曾在经历过残酷战争的士兵的大脑中发现这种变化。由此可见，家庭暴力对孩子的影响可与战争对成人的影响相提并论。
研究人员埃蒙·麦克罗里说，这种影响可能会导致孩子以后出现焦虑症等精神疾病的风险增加，他呼吁人们尽量让家庭暴力远离孩子。
Heightened neural reactivity to threat in child victims of family violence
Eamon J. McCrory, Stéphane A. De Brito, Catherine L. Sebastian, Andrea Mechelli, Geoffrey Bird, Phillip A. Kelly and Essi Vidin
Exposure to family violence affects a significant minority of children: estimates of physical abuse range from 4 to 16%, while intimate partner violence affects between 8 and 25% of children. These maltreatment experiences represent a form of environmental stress that significantly increases risk of later psychopathology, including anxiety. To date, no functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have probed the neural correlates of emotional processing in children exposed to family violence. Previous psychological and electrophysiological studies indicate a selective hypervigilance to angry cues in physically abused children, which is in turn associated with elevated levels of anxiety. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research has demonstrated increased reactivity of the anterior insula (AI) and amygdala to angry faces in individuals with anxiety disorder, and in psychiatrically healthy soldiers exposed to combat, making these regions plausible neural candidates for adaptation to threat. We demonstrated that children exposed to family violence (with normative levels of anxiety) show increased AI and amygdala reactivity in response to angry but not sad faces. While such enhanced reactivity to a biologically salient threat cue may represent an adaptive response to sustained environmental danger, it may also constitute a latent neurobiological risk factor increasing vulnerability to psychopathology.
文献链接：https://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822(11)01139-0
