Early abuse and pleasure hormones in response to stress

[no_escape]

http://www.news.wisc.edu/21970

During the sort of tense situation that makes palms sweat and voices quaver, children and young adults are typically awash in cortisol, a stress hormone that sounds an alarm and prepares the body for fight-or-flight responses to danger.

In young girls who have been abused, however, the reaction may be very much the opposite. A stressful situation is more likely to trigger the release of oxytocin, a hormone sometimes called the \"cuddle chemical.\"

Pretty interesting... May shed light on the tendency of abused kids to engage in risky behavior, self harm, and seeking abusive relationships.

[Dragon]

Oddly enough, it may also explain to a degree, why girls who have been abused feel strongly about their partners in other abusive relationships.

[no_escape]

You mean like jealously?

[Dragon]

Not me, as part of my own abuse therapy I took part in a group.  Most of the people there were women who had been abused as children - and for reasons I could never figure out they seemed to fall from one abusive relationship to another.  It's almost as if they went to what they knew, even though they knew it was painful.
What I see from the report is that the oxytocin uplift in bad situations comes across to them as pleasurable <??>.  Or maybe it's just that they've become so used to the way the abusers behave that they simply don't feel right in a relationship where there is no abuse, the other side of that coin is that many victims feel that they don't deserve anything better, their self worth is so low that the feel as if they aren't worth a loving partner.

[no_escape]

Not me, as part of my own abuse therapy I took part in a group.  Most of the people there were women who had been abused as children - and for reasons I could never figure out they seemed to fall from one abusive relationship to another.  It's almost as if they went to what they knew, even though they knew it was painful.
What I see from the report is that the oxytocin uplift in bad situations comes across to them as pleasurable <??>.  Or maybe it's just that they've become so used to the way the abusers behave that they simply don't feel right in a relationship where there is no abuse, the other side of that coin is that many victims feel that they don't deserve anything better, their self worth is so low that the feel as if they aren't worth a loving partner.

Oh yeah... I think that's always been the theory offered by psychology that it's partly low self worth, partly familiarity with abusive behavior. I've always been puzzled by the tendency too, and that theory seemed like a weak explanation. But yeah if this finding is true and stress triggers the release of oxytocin rather than cortisol, then it makes a lot more sense. As much as I hate the "chemical x leads to behavior y". If they really established this as true, I wonder what they would do as "treatment"? Seems they'd have to recondition or rewire the nervous system or something, which could lead to a lot of unintended harm.