NPR

Researchers began studying the children in Romanian orphanages after the nation’s brutal and repressive government was overthrown in 1989. At the time, there were more than 100,000 children in government institutions. And it soon became clear that many of them had stunted growth and a range of mental and emotional problems.

When Nelson first visited the orphanages in 1999, he saw children in cribs rocking back and forth as if they had autism. He also saw toddlers desperate for attention.

“They’d reach their arms out as though they’re saying to you, ‘Please pick me up,’ ” Nelson says. “So you’d pick them up and they’d hug you. But then they’d push you away and they’d want to get down. And then the minute they got down they’d want to be picked up again. It’s a very disorganized way of interacting with somebody.”

The odd behaviours, delayed language and a range of other symptoms suggested problems with brain development, Nelson says. So he and other researchers began studying the children using a technology known as electroencephalography (EEG), which measures electrical activity in the brain.

Many of the orphans had disturbingly low levels of brain activity. “Instead of a 100-watt light bulb, it was a 40-watt light bulb,” Nelson says.

As the children grew older, the researchers were able to use MRI to study the anatomy of their brains. And once again, the results were troubling. “We found a dramatic reduction in what’s referred to as gray matter and in white matter,” Nelson says. “In other words, their brains were actually physically smaller.”

The scientists realized the cause wasn’t anything as simple as malnutrition. It was a different kind of deprivation – the lack of a parent, or someone who acted like a parent.

Just read the whole article.

I’ve seen the scars of this for years — on so many people who have trouble even grasping they are scarred.

They look around and say, “I had an ok childhood — I don’t know why I just can’t care about others…” not grasping that repeated sexual molestation from a step-father often leaves the person feeling better about him/herself and more able to live and connect then this order of damage.

There’s actually something worse than child abuse…