Stress may damage young brains

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children is related to shrinkage in a part of the brain called the hippocampus, which is involved in the stress response, according to a study in the journal Pediatrics.

Researchers from Stanford University Medical Center studying 15 children who have suffered from PTSD (resulting from physical, emotional or sexual abuse, witnessing violence or experiencing lasting separation and loss) also found levels of the stress-hormone cortisol - which in animal studies has been shown to damage hippocampal cells - to be raised. This has led to the suggestion that very stressful event early in life could start a vicious spiral of increasing anxiety. This fits with the finding that having PTSD as a child increases the risk of depression and anxiety in adulthood.

Further research is needed to establish cause and effect: whether a smaller hippocampus is a predictor or consequence of PTSD. These results do seem to suggest however that major stress in early life may indeed damage the brain in a way that increases depression and anxiety in later life.

The Test Act is back!

A Christian magistrate, Andrew McClintock, has lost his case to be excused from cases which might require him to adopt children in to same-sex households. He suggests that the ruling is like a re-imposition a Test Act of the 17th century which ensured that only those who shared the religion of the state could be in public employment. This modern imposition of a Test-Act-by-stealth will ensure that all those in public office will be forced to concur with the secular 'new morality'.

This ruling advances the principle that no public employees are allowed, in conscience, to opt out of what amounts to a state-sponsored social experiment. It is the conviction of many - both with and without stong religious convictions, and supported by the science available - that a child's interests are best met by having both a mother and a father rather than two parents of the same sex. The law is being used to force Mr McClintock to act in a way that he believes not to be in a child's best interests. This is another worrying example of the insidious advance of secular totalitarianism. For more information on the ruling see here.