UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Christine Heim, professor of biobehavioral health at Penn State, studies the neurobiological effects that childhood maltreatment has on the development of psychiatric disorders and physical health outcomes. Heim joined the University's Network on Child Protection and Well-Being last semester and conducts research focused on identifying mechanisms that mediate the effects of abuse on long-term health, which may lead to novel interventions.
Heim’s research has shed light on “biological scars” left on children who are exposed to adverse life events, such as childhood sexual abuse and neglect. These scars may lead to a wide range of psychiatric disorders later in life, such as depression and anxiety. The children have an increased risk of developing medical diseases like diabetes and hypertension as they grow up. Also, risks associated with maltreatment stretch beyond the initial individual and can be transmitted to future generations.
“If we understand how childhood adversity affects disease processes,” Heim said, “we can develop the novel interventions to prevent, reverse or counteract these mechanisms and ultimately reduce a large public health burden.”
Researchers, like Heim, have discovered that these consequences occur, but the mechanisms illuminating the reasons behind the impacts on health and psychiatric well-being are not well understood. When a child is growing and developing, interventions can have the greatest impact, possibly averting the trajectory toward disorders and disease.
“By studying adults, we have an elaborate understanding of the long-term consequences of childhood trauma all the way down to the molecular level,” Heim said. “We have limited understanding of the immediate processes that happen in children that lead to the biological scars.”
Once researchers have mapped out these early events and revealed the precise mechanisms at work, they can identify and target the timing for specific interventions. They will also be able to predict who may be at risk for disorders and who may respond to specific treatments. Heim said, “Ideally, we would start interventions as early as possible to try to prevent a trajectory that leads to disease manifestation, but first we need to understand the mechanisms before we can take advantage of the ‘developmental plasticity.’”
According to Heim, understanding the clinical consequences of childhood trauma requires a multi-level approach involving many disciplines, including psychology, developmental science, biology, family studies, endocrine and immune science and others.