Abstract
Childhood trauma exposure is a significant public health problem. While adult mental health consequences of such experiences are well documented, sex differences in both prevalence and severity are less understood. Sex-based differences in biological circuitry and physiological trauma responses are proposed to potentiate the differential risk for pathogenesis of mental health disorders among adults. This paper will provide a contextualized summary of neuroendocrine, neuroimaging, and behavioral epigenetic studies on biological sex differences contributing to internalizing psychopathology, specifically posttraumatic stress disorder and depression, among adults with a history of childhood abuse. This review concludes with a discussion of implications for trauma interventions and sex-based biopsychological research in violence prevention.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 69-79 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Clinical Psychology Review |
Volume | 66 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 2018 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Childhood trauma
- Corticolimbic system
- Epigenetics
- HPA axis
- Internalizing disorders
- Sex
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Clinical Psychology
- Psychiatry and Mental health