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Neurobiological Effects of Trauma include the nervous system, genetic, metabolic, or other biological changes or reorganization of cells as a result of psychological trauma exposure. These effects can be seen as the body’s physiological responses to potentially traumatic events. Studies suggest that various types of trauma, such as childhood abuse, sexual abuse, and domestic violence, precipitate chronic neurological dysregulation, resulting in cognitive and behavioral impairments (Sherin & Nemerrof, 2011).

Contents

1 Overview of Neurobiological Responses to Stress

2 Stress and Psychological trauma

3 Neurobiological Effects of Childhood Trauma

4 Neurobiological Effects of Adulthood Trauma Among Military Personnel and Veterans

5 Affect Dysregulation

6 Therapies and Treatment

1 Overview of Neurobiological Responses to Stress The body is designed to adapt to physiological and environmental changes (Hoffmann & Sgrò, 2011). Biological/physiological Stress is understood as the body’s response to said changes. The amygdala, the brain’s emotional processing center, processes information about a potentially stressful or dangerous event and transfers it to the hypothalamus (Davis, 1992). The Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis is responsible for the body’s reaction to stress (Tsigos & Chrousos, 2002). The hypothalamus releases adrenaline to prepare the body for fight or flight, leading to the activation of the sympathetic nervous system, which produces an increase in heart rate, oxygen supply, blood flow, and muscle tension (McCorry, 2007). Cortisol, a steroid hormone, is released, expelling glucose into the bloodstream, lowering blood sugar, curbing appetite, and slowing metabolism (Sapolsky, Romero & Munck, 2000). Cortisol also suppresses the immune system (Segerstrom & Miller, 2004) and can interfere with memory encoding (Newcomer, Selke, Melson, Hershey, Craft, Richards & Alderson, 1999), especially when stress is chronic or prolonged.

2 Stress and Psychological Trauma Stress is generally defined as a feeling reflecting lack of a person’s resources to address a certain situations (McEwen, 2006). Life threatening, or acute, stressor, such as in violent situations, are likely to result in long-term chronic stress (McEwen) or psychological trauma (Van der Kolk, 2003). There are two essential elements in the establishment of profound threat: (1) a stressor and (2) the perception of threat (Sherin & Nemerrof, 2011). Psychological trauma is idiosyncratic in nature, and hence could be impacted by extraneous factors such as culture (Wilson, 2007) and age, making children a vulnerable population (Van der Kolk, 2003). When psychological trauma is severe and symptoms impact a person’s daily functioning, it can lead to a diagnosable psychological disorder, including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Acute Stress Disorder (ASD) and Dissociative Identity Disorder, as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (2013). Potential manifestations of psychological trauma include irritability, dissociation, social withdrawal, avoidance of trauma-related stimuli, and sleep disturbance (DSM-V, 2013). Neurologically, these psychological diagnoses are likely to be associated with neurological changes in several brain regions including prefrontal cortex, anterior cyngulate cortex (ACC), hippocampus, and limbic system (Zhang et al., 2006). PTSD often co-occurs with Traumatic Brain Injury (Stein & McAllister, 2009), with overlapping effects in the frontal gyrus (Simmons & Matthews, 2012).

3 Childhood Trauma According to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, early childhood trauma refers to experiencing traumatic event, such as sexual, physical or emotional abuse or neglect between infancy and the age of 6 years. A survey by the National Survey of Children’s Health conducted in 2011/12, suggests that nearly 35,000,000 children ages 0-17 in the U.S. experience one or more types of childhood trauma (Children are a particularly vulnerable population to develop psychological trauma because their central nervous system still develops when going through the traumatic event (Van der-Kolk, 2003). Prominent neurological changes that occur due to child trauma include physiological hyperarousal and dissociation, which are neurologically encoded by a child’s developing brain, significantly increasing the likelihood of neuropsychiatric manifestation more likely (Perry, Pollard, Blakley, Baker & Vigilante, 1995). Moreover, research suggests that both physical and emotional chronic abuse of a child have long-lasting neurobiological effects, reflected in multiple symptoms such as brain-wave abnormalities, left-hemisphere developmental problems such as speech, problems with hippocampus which impact memory, diminished right-left integration and more (Teicher, 2002).

4 Adulthood Trauma Military veterans are also considered a vulnerable population to developing trauma-related disorders due to the nature of the service, which often includes life threatening and violent situations. PTSD is among the most prevalent disorders among U.S. military and and veteran populations. Research suggests that 68.2% U.S. of military personnel participating in Operations Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Enduring Freedom (OEF) have endorsed symptoms of PTSD (Lew, et al., 2009). Research also suggest that approximately one in three veterans is likely to endorse PTSD symptoms in their lifetime (Mota, et al. 2016). Research indicate that stress, especially chronic stress as a result of trauma can result in degeneration of neurons in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex (McEwen, 2006), hence damaging learning and memory (Bremner, 1999) as well as executive functions (McEwens, 2006). Specifically, Bremner’s study (1999) examined Vietnam Veterans diagnosed with PTSD and found, via Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), that this population (as well as victims of childhood abuse) had reduced hippocampal volume in comparison to control group. Studies also show that military personnel diagnosed with PTSD have “inadequate frontal inhibition of the amygdala” which ultimately impacts an individual’s fear response (Vasterling, Verfaellie & Sullivan, 2009). Another area of the brain found to be altered among adults as a result of psychological trauma is the prefrontal cortex (McEwen, 2006). The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is communicating with the amygdala via white matter connections (Koenigs & Grafman, 2009), and if damaged due to psychological trauma can lead to problems in selective attention, judgment and decision-making.

5 Affect Dysregulation Affect regulation is a function of biological and psychosocial domains (Ford, 2017). Affect regulation involves the control of which emotions are felt, experienced, and expressed in what ways, contexts, times, and ranges (Dvir, Ford, Hill, & Frzier, 2014). With standard (physiological) maturation, components of the limbic system, such as the HPA (Dvir, Ford, Hill, & Frzier, 2014) and frontal lobe (Tarullo, Obradovic, & Gunnar, 2009), change and develop to promote self-control. Those exposed to trauma are particularly at risk of displaying emotional regulation problems. An inability to modulate, manage, or appropriately express emotions is referred to as emotional dysregulation (Dvir, Ford, Hill, & Frzier, 2014). Children who endure trauma or adversity in their early years are at increased risk of stress reactivity and emotional regulation (D’Andrea, Ford, Stolbach, Spinazzola, & van der Kolk, 2012). Emotional dysregulation is associated with several psychological disorders including substance use, depression, borderline personality disorder, eating disorders and anxiety (Berkin & Wupperman, 2012; Aldao, Nolen-Hoeksema, & Schweizer, 2010). Difficulty regulating emotions can create dilemmas developmentally, socially, and legally. Emotional dysregulation is a risk factor for self-injurious behaviors (Adrian, Zeman, J., Erdley, Lisa, & Sim, 2011) and aggression (Roberton, Daffern, & Bucks, 2012).

6 Therapies and Treatments Several evidence-based therapies have been developed to directly address the neurobiological effects of trauma. A. Psychotherapy Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a popular mental health treatment that has been used to treat psychological disorders including depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Even though CBT’s main focus lies in an individual’s thoughts, feelings, and cognitive processes, there is evidence that this treatment produces neurological modifications (Paquette, et al. 2003). Specifically, in the treatment of PTSD, CBT treatment is often conducted in the form of stimulus confrontation or cognitive restructuring (Seidler & Wagner, 2006). Studies suggest that CBT treatment of PTSD was associated with changes in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex, including the amygdala (Felmingham et al., 2007). Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is also considered a prevalent psychotherapy treatment method specifically designated for PTSD (Seidler & Wagner, 2006). As part of EMDR treatment the patient is instructed to focus on the thoughts and emotions related to the distressing event, once such contact is made the therapist asks the patient to follow therapist’s finger moving sideways towards and away from patient’s face (Seidler & Wagner, 2006). The bilateral stimulation is at the heart of EMDR. A systematic review conducted by Seidler & Wagner (2006) suggests that both CBT and EMDR are similarly effective in the treatment of PTSD.

B. Psychopharmacology Several psychotropic medications are effective in alleviating PTSD symptoms (Albucher & Liberzon, 2002). These medications typically include antidepressants, such as tricyclic antidepressants, monoamine oxidase inhibitors, and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). In PTSD, SSRIs increase orbitofrontal and medial prefrontal activity (Fernandez et al., 2001; Seedat et al., 2004). Effectiveness of psychopharmacology treatment, specifically mood-enhancing medication, for PTSD supports the understanding that PTSD is more than an exaggerated fear response and involves emotional regulation (Etkin & Wager, 2007).

C. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive stimulation technique in which parts of the brain are activated by use of magnetic waves. The stimulation creates changes in nerve cell activity by way of location, intensity, and frequency of pulses. Typically, this treatment is administered to “treatment and drug resistant” patients since it addresses neurobiological mechanisms exclusively. Use of TMS to treat or in tandem with other treatment has shown to improve of clinical outcomes of PTSD (Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technology in Health, 2015). The mechanisms by which clinical outcomes improve are largely unknown.

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Article Evaluation: “Violent Crime” Even though the article is brief, the information that has been included is relevant to the topic of violent crime. The article does a good job of being benign - it refrains from taking a stance and simply reports the facts. The definition and examples of violent crime included in the article were both extensive and diverse. The article read mostly like a Center for Disease Control (CDC) or federal report. Most of the sources cited are federal or international government agency reports. The talk page is relatively quiet – there are not many posts and most are suggestions on who to expand the article or change the aesthetics. However, there are two messages from Wikipedia mentioning that the article falls within two scopes (Wiki	Project Crime and WikiProject Law), which are dedicated to improving coverage of this and similar topics. It is comforting to see Wikipedia’s acknowledgment that the article is relatively lacking on information and depth. On the quality scale, the article is rated as “start-class”, which makes sense considering the brief information provided. The article could have gone into further depth about all aspects of violent crime, aside from the provided definition and prevalence rates. Other aspects that should be added include policies and consequences (e.g. prison, trauma, transgenerational transmission, etc.) of violent crime, impact on psychological or community well being indexes, and prevalence rates by demographics.

Add to Article Assignment "Murder" Added missing citation to "Killing an intruder who is found by an owner to be in the owner's home (having entered unlawfully): legal in most US states (see Castle doctrine)[24]"