Psychiatric Diseases Caused by Childhood Adversity

Dear Colleagues,

Adversity is common in early life, and can include erratic parenting, different forms of abuse, physical and emotional neglect, severe bullying by peers, and so on. These distressing experiences can affect children's neurodevelopment and mental health, and can ultimately lead to a risk of mental illness throughout the lifespan. It has already been established that the risk of psychiatric conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, major depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and schizophrenia greatly increase after childhood adversity.

In recent years, many animal models relating to early life adversity/stress have been developed, providing us with a better understanding of how early life adversity re-programs the brain and how it leads to behavioral dysfunction. The clinical importance of these findings has been greatly appreciated; however, there are many remaining gaps in our knowledge and further investigation is needed.

The present Special Issue aims to collect original research, reviews and opinion articles regarding research that will help us better understand how early life adversity impacts mental illness.

Dr. Łukasz Gawęda
Guest Editor

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