The statistics are shocking and profoundly sad. In 2014, more than 3 million reports of child abuse, involving more than 6 million children, were filed with state and local authorities in the U.S.
Complaints encompassed physical, sexual and emotional abuse plus physical and emotional neglect. A total of 1,580 children died as a consequence of abuse, and many instances of abuse likely went unreported.
Clif CleavelandAs victims of child abuse grow into adults, they have a significantly higher risk of violent acts against intimate partners, drug and alcohol abuse, depression and suicide attempts. They are more likely to have problems with learning and social adjustment.
Are the adults who were abused in childhood simply imitating the adults who abused them? Or has mistreatment altered the victims so much that destructive impulses against themselves or others persist throughout their lives?
Exposure to pain and fear activates automatic stress responses in each of us, whether we’re child or adult, including the release of a variety of hormones from pituitary and adrenal glands. Chronic stress alters the chemical environment in which cells and their genes function. The study of these environmental influences on genetic activity is known “epigenetics.”