Neuronendocrine Function in Sexually Abused Adolescent Girls
Brooks R. Keeshin from a research group led by Frank Putnam presented a poster at the 2012 meeting of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) on neuroendocrine function in recently sexually abused adolescent girls with and without post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Average age of the girls was 15 and they had experienced the sexual abuse six months to one year before the study. The researchers found that morning cortisol awakening response was flattened in the girls, and this was associated with PTSD severity and the severity of intrusive symptoms. Increased adversity prior to the sexual abuse experience was also associated with flattening of the cortisol awakening response.
The researchers suggest that alterations in the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis (HPA) appear around the time of the abuse and are associated with the severity of PTSD symptomatology in sexually abused adolescent girls.
