Domestic violence in pregnancy: the consequences from the point of view of neuroscience
Dr. Hamida Ouled Slimane Abstract The intervention proposes to highlight how violence suffered by pregnant women can affect children even before birth and that it can be the cause of changes in the mother's stress response systems, increasing cortisol hormone levels, which in turn could increase cortisol levels in the fetus, determining cognitive and neurological alterations. The early changes in brain structures, in fact, could explain why children whose mothers experience high levels of stress due to trauma and domestic violence during pregnancy, have greater chances of developing learning disorders, relational disorders and psychological and/or psychiatric problems in childhood or elder age. In light of this it becomes fundamental and necessary to act quickly in order to help women escape violence in pregnancy, being an effective way to support a healthy brain development in the unborn child and reduce the risk of relational, psychological and psychiatric problems. The period ...
