Izlaganje sa skupa
TRAUMATIC EVENTS, SEXUAL ABUSE AND MENTAL ILLNESS
Mark Agius
orcid.org/0000-0002-5929-8580
; Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Mental Health Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Michaela Agius
; Medical Student, University of Malta, Msida, Malta
Sažetak
That 'Childhood Adversity', which includes many traumatic events but in particular includes sexual abuse during childhood, can
cause changes in the brain, such as the finding of a smaller hippocampus is well established by the observations of such persons as
Thomas Frodl (2008, 2013). That traumatic events in adulthood can also cause both clinical symptoms such as Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder, with equivalent shrinkage of the hippocampus (Smith 2005), is also well known. In this article we apply these
neurological findings to the particular traumatic event of sexual abuse at any age, first to demonstrate that such abuse can in deed
cause a number of mental illnesses, and hence to produce a model of how different forms of mental trauma may cause different
mental illnesses. Next we describe human sexuality as a form of la nguage, whereby feelings ranging from love to indifference to
exercise of power to hatred can be expressed. We suggest that the expression of these feelings can give rise to positive feelin gs or to
the mental illnesses we have mentioned. We emphasize how free choice is central to the 'messages' that we give to our partners
through our sexuality - and therefore that we are responsible for those messages and their consequences. We point out therefore that
inappropriate choices by the couple may lead to the consequent neurological changes and mental health symptoms we have
mentioned. We finally analyse the act of sexual intercourse into a number of component functions (or consequences) including the
Generative Function - that of producing another human person, the Choice Function - that of choosing the other person, the
Language Function - that of communicating that choice to the other person and the Empowering Function- that of empowering the
other person. We propose a model of human sexuality in which these four functions are linked together, so that in normal
circumstances they work together in complete harmony, however, numerous circumstances of modern life can cause these four
functions to operate asyncronously, thus leading to the neurological changes which we have mentioned above. These neurological
changes are associated with the changes in hippocampal size which we have described above. Thus in our model, we have linked th e
Neurological changes of Trauma with factors relating to Choice, psychological concepts, and consequent symptomatology of illness.
We do this in the context of a model of the Human Person in which mind and body are linked so that the human person can be
understood as an 'Embodied Spirit', rather than the Cartesian Model. This concept goes back to the model of the Human Person of
Aristotle, and was re-expressed in Medieval times by Aquinas and Augustine, and is congruent with Phenominology as expressed by
Husserl and Stein. We have previously argued that such an 'Embodied Spirit' model of the Human Person is more congruent with
modern neuroscience than a Cartesian Model (Agius 2017).
Ključne riječi
hippocampus; trauma; sexual abuse; childhood adversity; free choice; post traumatic stress disorder; embodied cognition; aquinas; cartesianism
Hrčak ID:
270202
URI
Datum izdavanja:
4.12.2021.
Posjeta: 314 *