The University of Wisconsin-Madison will be one of 25 sites to study early brain and behavior development and the impact of early exposure to substances – such as opioids – and social stressors in infants and young children.
Mental Health
Schizophrenia: Illuminating a potential treatment and gene regulation
A new study from the lab of Waisman investigator Xinyu Zhao brings us one step closer to identifying treatments for psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia (SCZ) and illuminates the role of a specific gene in regulating the disorder.
Mental health in pregnancy may affect development of newborns’ brains
By Marianne Spoon, UW Communications Many factors can influence the development of a baby during pregnancy and after birth, but until recently, researchers knew little about the relationship between an expectant mother’s mental health and …
A Child’s Death Brings ‘Trauma That Doesn’t Go Away’
A recent story in the New York Times discusses the trauma that parents experience after the death of a child. In particular, elderly parents who lose a child are vulnerable both emotionally and pragmatically. Waisman …
Childhood stress can reconfigure biology, UW-Madison research says
Abused children tend to develop lifelong emotional and physical problems, and now UW-Madison scientists may have found a biological reason: Maltreatment appears to turn off a gene that regulates stress.
Early life stress can leave lasting impacts on the brain
For children, stress can go a long way. A little bit provides a platform for learning, adapting and coping. But a lot of it — chronic, toxic stress like poverty, neglect and physical abuse — can have lasting negative impacts.
Julie Poehlmann, Sesame Workshop help kids
“Lots of families didn’t know how to talk about it. Does a 3-year-old really understand when one of their parents in is jail?”
Professor helps ‘Sesame Street’ reach children of imprisoned parents
By Käri Knutson It doesn’t get talked about much, yet nearly 2.7 million children are growing up with a parent who is in prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. What do you tell …
Seth Pollak, PhD, discusses how childhood environment can shape the human brain on “Office Hours”
How does childhood environment shape the human brain? Can caregiver abuse and neglect – as well as nurturing – promote behaviors and reaction patterns that last a lifetime?
Maternal mental health research by Witt and Coe cited
At least one in 13 pregnant women suffers from mental health problems…