Abstract #0816

Limbic Scars: Functional and Structural MRI Reveal Long-Term Consequences of Childhood Maltreatment

Harald Kugel¹, Anja Stuhrmann², Victoria Beutelmann², Peter Zwanzger², Thomas Lenzen², Dominik Grotegerd², Katharina Domschke², Christa Hohoff², Patricia Ohrmann², Jochen Bauer², Christian Lindner², Christian Postert²,³, Carsten Konrad⁴, Walter Heindel¹, Volker Arolt², Thomas Suslow⁵, Udo Dannlowski²

¹Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Muenster, Muenster, NRW, Germany; ²Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Muenster, NRW, Germany; ³Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Muenster, NRW, Germany; ⁴Department of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Marburg, HE, Germany; ⁵Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, SN, Germany

Childhood maltreatment is a strong risk factor for the development of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in later live. In this study, the neurobiological bases of these associations were investigated. Both, depression and PTSD have been associated with increased amygdala responsiveness to negative stimuli as well as reduced hippocampal gray matter volume, therefore we speculated that childhood maltreatment results in similar functional and structural alterations in previously maltreated but at present healthy adults. fMRI and voxel-based morphometry were applied to investigate the alterations.