EARLY SEXUAL ABUSE LINKED TO DRUG ADDICTION

A team of U.S. researchers has found that repeated sexual abuse can
cause physical changes in the brain. These changes may explain why
abused children often use illegal drugs later in life.

The researchers found that children who were sexually abused had
changes in the blood flow and function of a brain region called the
cerebella vermis, which is also known to change when people abuse
drugs.

"This part of the brain has been recently implicated in the
co-ordination of emotional behavior, is strongly affected by alcohol,
cocaine, and other drugs of abuse, and may help regulate dopamine, a
neurotransmitter critically involved in addiction," the researchers
said.

Researchers used a technology called functional magnetic resonance
imaging, (fMRI) to look at the brains of 32 adults, aged 18 to 22.
Half had been abused as children.

They looked at the cerebella vermis because it develops slowly and
can be affected easily by stress hormones.

"Damage to this area of the brain may cause an individual to be
particularly irritable, and to seek external means, such as drugs or
alcohol, to quell this irritability," said chief researcher Carl
Anderson.