Emotional scars: limbic brain processing alterations in adults with childhood abuse across mental health disorders

Abstract

Abuse experienced during childhood and adolescence significantly influences brain development and increases the risk of psychiatric disorders later in life. However, its long-term impact on emotion processing across psychiatric conditions remains underexplored. In this functional MRI study, we examined a sample of 635 individuals with and without childhood abuse, including people with depression, anxiety disorders, PTSD, and healthy controls, to investigate differences in brain activation during conscious and non-conscious emotional face processing. Brain activation across regions involved in emotional regulation was compared in response to negative (anger, fear, disgust, sadness), happy and..