RE: Childhood stressors and the beginning of pathogenesis chain reaction (Part 2 - We carry the baggage of our childhood)
The introduction you wrote for this post is extremely elegant @scienceblocks :) - to say the least!
What the future holds for children deprived of care and safety is overwhelming and frightening. Whilst reading your post the works of Harlow and Bowlby came to mind. And, while all the information you delivered to us here can be seen as intimidating. I prefer to approach it from a perspective that indicates that a secure-base and love not only build the foundations for an individual to develop a well-balanced personality, but also prevents diseases that range from cancer to psoriasis!
Being a responsible parent is not an easy feat. And like you so wisely pointed out, the consequences of bringing up a child goes beyond the years they are under their parents' wings, they ripple through generations. And, thanks to epigenetics this is a picture that is becoming more and more clear.
Amazing post. Thank you for sharing it here with us! ;)
I know right. The epigenetics ends up explaining so much we always wondered about. Though a lot of work needs to be done but more and more reports are accumulating in this field. Esp I like how it has potential to explain all the behavioural variations. The other day I was wondering about the links of aggression with alcohol and testosterone. The fact that only those predisposed to displaying higher aggression display aggression with alcohol intake and anabolic steroid use makes you ask what is that predisposition. It would be interesting to consider epigenetic reprogramming early in life in this picture as well. Kind of studies I would like to consider for my postdoc.
After reading this post some people on Facebook contacted telling how much they can relate it to their childhood. I was bit disappointed when they asked me what they can do to reverse what happened - esp those suffering with anxiety. Now that's not my field to answer them so I mostly told them to seek counseling. Though I have no idea about how much the degree of stress in childhood affect the effectiveness of therapies people can seek. If you have some insights into it, it would be amaxing to hear. Nevertheless, I like the very recent focus of CRISPR technology in reversing the epigenetic programming in cells. I take solace in the fact that maybe, we will have a more targeted therapeutic interventions for people some decades later.