Child maltreatment and mental health problems in children and adolescents

In children and adolescents who have experienced child abuse, the body appears to remain in a state of alert for too long, and this can affect several bodily systems, such as the neuroendocrine, immune and metabolic systems.

When this alert response is prolonged, it leads to cumulative wear and tear on all the biological systems that normally respond to stress, a phenomenon known as allostatic load.

Furthermore, victims who have experienced a greater accumulation of different types of maltreatment also show a higher prevalence of psychiatric disorders. ...