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Current Addiction Reports
Published in: Current Addiction Reports 4/2015

Open Access 01-12-2015 | Transgenerational Considerations in Addictions (LC Mayes and E McCrory, Section Editors)

Exploring the Relationship Between Childhood Maltreatment and Addiction: A Review of the Neurocognitive Evidence

Authors: Vanessa B. Puetz, Eamon McCrory

Published in: Current Addiction Reports | Issue 4/2015

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Abstract

Childhood maltreatment has been shown to increase the risk of a range of psychiatric disorders including substance use disorders (SUDs) and is associated with the onset, course and severity of illness. We review the evidence for alterations in brain structure and neurocognitive processing in individuals who have experienced childhood maltreatment, focusing specifically on changes related to reward processing, executive functioning and affect processing. Changes in these neurocognitive systems have been documented in adults presenting with SUDs, who are typically characterized by heightened subcortico-striatal responses to salient stimuli and impairments in fronto-cingulate regulation. Maltreatment-specific effects in these processing domains may account for the particularly severe clinical presentation of SUDs in adults with histories of maltreatment in childhood. The findings are considered in relation to the theory of latent vulnerability, which contends that alterations in these neurocognitive systems may reflect calibration to early risk environments that in turn increases the risk of developing of SUDs later in life.
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Metadata
Title
Exploring the Relationship Between Childhood Maltreatment and Addiction: A Review of the Neurocognitive Evidence
Authors
Vanessa B. Puetz
Eamon McCrory
Publication date
01-12-2015
Publisher
Springer International Publishing
Published in
Current Addiction Reports / Issue 4/2015
Electronic ISSN: 2196-2952
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40429-015-0073-8

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