Vatican Codifies Pedophilia As Offense Against Church

In the latest revisions to the internal laws of the Catholic Church (as reported by The New York Times), the Vatican has grouped pedophilia with heresy, apostasy, schism and attempts to ordain women, all threats to the church itself.  Additionally, the new amendments omit recognition that sexual abuse of children is a crime.

“It’s not for canonical legislation to get itself involved with civil law,” explained Charles J. Scicluna, internal prosecutor for sexual abuse cases.  It’s not for it to ignore it either.  In earlier guidelines, lacking the force of canonical law, bishops were advised to report sexual abuse to local authorities where laws mandated such actions.  Such directions don’t appear in the revised laws.

Additionally, the statute of limitations was increased from 10 to 20 years after the victim turns 18.  But those with any knowledge about the long-term impact of sexual abuse on children know that there can be a significant delay in the survivor’s ability to both remember and report such trauma.  Limiting reporting, and not holding priests responsible even years later, does nothing to support survivors.

The changes were touted by Scicluna as “…a signal that we are very, very serious in our commitment to promote safe environments and to offer an adequate response to abuse.”  The revisions speak more to the Vatican’s desire to promote a safer environment for itself.

There can be only one appropriate and indeed moral response to dealing with those accused of sexually assaulting children: to report them to the police for investigation and to remove them immediately from any contact with children.  If found guilty, they must be held accountable.  For the Pope to continue to take the law into his own hands in such matters represents a negation of his professed role as spiritual leader and raises the question of whether he even knows the right thing to do.

Exercise Builds Strong Brains

Add one more benefit to getting off the couch and moving.  Though scientists have known for a while that exercise increases neurogenesis (brain cell production), resulting in better thinking, until now they didn’t know just how that happened.  Recent animal studies described in The New York Times uncovered the process.

A chemical circulating throughout the body, bone-morphogenetic protein (BMP), curbs cell proliferation by preventing stem cells from dividing and developing into the assortment of cells that keep the body going.  The brain contains lots of stem cells just waiting to become neurons but with aging, BMP becomes more active and neurogenesis, and mental agility, declines.

Mice given access to running wheels showed drops in BMP production of about 50 percent within a week.  At the same time, the BMP antagonist Noggin (a protein that interferes with BMP’s activity) increased.  When mice were injected with Noggin, they showed great prowess in mazes and other tests of smarts.

But before drug companies rush to create a Noggin pill to be used and abused by those who want the benefits of exercise without the sweat, consider the unintended consequences of its overuse.

Noggin added to mice stem cells in petri dishes resulted in runaway production of neurons through its interference with BMP’s ability to check such growth.  Sedentary mice injected with Noggin showed similar results;  eventually the stem cells exhausted themselves and everything slowed to a crawl.

What does that mean for the real world effects of exercising?  Is it possible to overdo it?  So far there’s no evidence of that; the revved up neurogenesis eventually plateaus.

It doesn’t take much to get results, either.  So don’t wait around for the pill that does it all.  Take a walk, jog, swim or bicycle.  Even a little can keep the brain young and spry.

Facial Expression Recognition Develops Over Time

The ability to decipher the emotional content of facial expressions requires time to develop, according to a recent study, and disgust takes the longest.  Not until age five can most children tell the difference between disgust and anger.  In fact, until age three, children see the world of faces divided into two types: happy and angry.

Perhaps only with the development of the left (verbal and logical) side of the brain do children become equipped to decode what faces communicate.  That process doesn’t start till age two and doesn’t advance enough till age seven to dominate the right (emotional) side of the brain.

In research described in Science News, scientists came up with a developmental timetable based on observations of very young children.  They found that most three-year-olds correctly linked faces to happy, angry and sad.  Four-year-olds stopped misattributing angry faces for other expressions, and by age five children could recognize disgust as such.  The report omitted mention of surprise and fear, the other two of the six major emotions previously believed to be innate across cultures.

Yet well before children possess the visual acumen to read faces, they can use the language of emotions appropriately, with words like “gross” and “yucky,” for example,  to describe the experience of disgust.

Anyone who interacts with children regularly would be well advised to keep in mind these new discoveries.  Trying to teach a toddler to refrain from ingesting nonfood objects by turning up one’s nose at them just won’t do the trick.  And looking at a child with anything other than a happy face will be read as anger.  It might make more sense to describe rather than display those other feelings.

Serotonin Transport Gene Implicated Again

Already linked to depression and PTSD, the 5-HTT gene has been found to play a role in how bullying affects its victims.  Having two short versions of the gene seems to predispose a bullied child to developing emotional problems severe enough to require treatment.

In a study described in Science News, researchers looked at sets of twins with identical versions of 5-HTT where one had been bullied and the other not.  The results showed that 33 percent with the two short versions had symptoms of depression, anxiety and/or social withdrawal.  One long and one short version conferred some protection;  29 percent had severe problems.  The most resilient bullied children had two long forms of the gene;  only 15 percent had observable negative reactions.

The 5-HTT gene, which has a critical role in regulating serotonin, the neurotransmitter involved in mediating stress and producing feelings of wellbeing, continues to be linked with how well a child responds to stressors.  In other research, teenage girls who suffered various kinds of ostracism by their peers had worse outcomes than those fortunate enough to have two long, or even one long and one short, gene.

Important to keep in mind:  a significant majority of even those children with short versions of 5-HTT do not develop serious symptoms.  While such a combination does not doom children to misery, having it probably explains why some adults who were abused as children do better than others.  It’s long past time to stop blaming victims for their negative reactions to their childhood trauma.

The Impact of SSRIs on the Developing Brain

These days many depressed women contemplating pregnancy face the dilemma of whether to take antidepressant medications and risk harming the fetus or avoid the pills and suffer other consequences.  Now, a growing body of knowledge offers them help with this decision though it still remains a tough call.

The most popular medications for depression, the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil and others, work by preventing neurons (brain cells) from reabsorbing serotonin, a neurotransmitter involved in mood regulation.  Keeping more of it around in the synapses (spaces between the neurons) increases feelings of well-being and decreases activation of other brain chemicals like those in the limbic system involved in sex, aggression and overeating.

Because of the powerful effect SSRIs have on brain functioning, researchers have been concerned about their effect on brain development.  A recent study, discussed in Science News (June 5, 2010), revealed that “…children exposed to antidepressants in the womb are more likely to appear sad or withdrawn at age 3 than those whose moms didn’t take the drugs.”  In other cited research, “…babies born with SSRIs in their systems had lower birth weights and were more likely to experience respiratory distress.”

Earlier animal studies linked antidepressant use in pregnant mice and rats with anxiety and depression in their offspring.  On the positive side, some animals showed “improved decision-making and spatial-learning abilities.”  In other animal experiments using SSRIs, additional effects of these antidepressants included “faulty brain organization and abnormalities” and an increased sensitivity to serotonin.

It makes sense that the brain would be affected by artificially altering exposure to serotonin prior to, or during, the development of the system that regulates it, whether through medication or the stress of depression.  One theory holds that there is a critical period for the creation of the network of serotonin sites throughout the central nervous system.  During this time, if there’s too much serotonin already in the system, fewer sites would be established, and if there’s too little, too many sites would be produced, both outcomes affecting a child’s ability to cope.

Some researchers have explored other variables in interpreting the results of these studies.  Might the mother’s depressed mood also impact the baby’s serotonin system?  Depressed women have difficulty with self-care.  They are less likely to eat properly, exercise and get proper sleep, and are prone to risky behaviors like using drugs and alcohol, all of which can affect serotonin levels in the baby’s brain.  In studies that followed mothers and their children’s adjustment for three years, researchers showed that a mother’s current anxiety level played a more important role in their children’s adjustment than her mood during pregnancy whether or not she used SSRIs.

Genetics also plays a part in brain development.  The serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4), implicated as a factor in susceptibility to depression and PTSD, has several variants.  Findings in one study showed that children with two short copies of the gene (less efficient serotonin reuptake) whose mothers were depressed during pregnancy tended toward depression and anxiety at age three.  Children with two long copies (more efficient reuptake) whose mothers were anxious during pregnancy showed increases in aggression at followup regardless of whether their mothers were on antidepressants.

What’s a depressed mother-to-be to do?  Clearly the stress of maternal depression has its own documented negative effect on the baby-to-be.  But taking SSRIs has potential for harm as well.  Since SSRIs have been shown to be most effective for moderate to severe depression, perhaps milder depression can be treated in nonchemical ways.  A woman needs to do her research, speak to her practitioner and consider her own individual circumstances in order to make an informed decision that minimizes the risks.

Re:  Private Trauma Sheds Light on Terrorism (6/29/2010)

The following is a copy of a letter sent to The New York Times in response to an interview with Jessica Stern, an expert on terrorists and terrorism, on the occasion of the publication of her own story, Denial:  A Memoir of Terror:

As a psychotherapist working for many years with adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse, I recognized immediately the phenomenon alluded to by Jessica Stern in the June 29, 2010 article by Charles McGrath, Private Trauma Sheds Light on Terrorism.

She describes a state of disconnection from her feelings, where she goes “into a calm,” elaborating on it later with, “I mean just lose feeling…like being in a fog.”

That experience has a name:  dissociation.  It’s a common reaction to overwhelming, life-threatening events.  Although Ms. Stern recognized it as “…a chemical change in my body,” she was reluctant to “…medicalize it too much.”  But everything that happens in our bodies happens first in our brains.

To maintain equilibrium, the brain produces both excitatory and inhibitory chemicals.  States of high arousal, like terror, trigger reactions that prepare the body for action.  When the threat passes, equilibrium is reestablished and the body goes back to a neutral state.

Most people are familiar with the flight or fight categories of response.  Fewer are aware that there is a third, freeze, that occurs when neither of the first two is possible or either could exacerbate the danger.  In the frozen state, the brain releases chemicals that shut down activity, produce a disconnection from the body and alter perception of the external world, conserving resources and seeking protective invisibility.

Ms. Stern could expect to react similarly when faced with any situation reminiscent of the original trauma, a defining symptom of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder.  Revisiting her history to write her book would certainly elicit her original feelings and concomitant coping strategies.

The brain always seeks to protect the self from intolerable feelings.  In her research into the motivations for violence, Ms. Stern discovered that a history of sexual humiliation played an important role.  In my work with sexual abuse survivors, I have witnessed feelings of humiliation instantly morph into what my clients have called defensive rage, a state far more tolerable because of its power than that of their unbearable shame.

In another recent article about her new book, Ms. Stern observed that shame could be sexually transmitted.  I would like to thank her for the perfect description of what happens to victims of sexual violence.

Epigenetic Changes Linked to Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

Most people who live through a traumatic event don’t develop Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  Knowing what differentiates those who do from everyone else could provide valuable leads for prevention and treatment.

In a recent study described in Science News, researchers discovered that people who suffer from PTSD have more genetic changes to their DNA than those who don’t.   It’s not clear, however, whether these alterations resulted from the trauma or predisposed individuals to develop a symptomatic response to it.

DNA is not immutable.  Genes can be altered through a process called methylation whereby a methyl molecule gets tacked onto a gene, limiting the gene’s ability to do its job.  Environmental factors can impact genes in this way.

One type of change to the PTSD group’s DNA involved less methylation in certain immune system genes, supporting previous research that implicated PTSD in immune system dysfunction.  Conversely, certain genes involved in brain cell growth showed increased methylation, which would inhibit production of proteins necessary for brain  functioning.

How these changes relate to PTSD and how they get expressed in the body still remains a question that hopefully future research will answer.