Sexual Abuse and Harassment : Deep-Seated Trauma for Men and Women

"[Once having experienced the psychological effects of sexual or other types of abuse, long after the fact the trauma lingers] leading to a generalized state of hyper arousal, which is what we think might influence our risk for these other outcomes, like hypertension and disrupted sleep."
Karestan Koenen, professor of psychiatric epidemiology, Harvard University

"It is widely understood that sexual harassment and assault can impact women's lives and how they function, but this study also evaluates the implications of these experiences for women's health."
"We [recently published study's authors] kept looking at other explanations. Is what we're seeing due to education, race, ethnicity..."
"There was a very clear link to trauma."
Dr. Rebecca Thurston, professor of psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh 

"[When sperm melds with an egg] there is a massive amount of genetic re-shuffling, and most of the methylation  [chemical 'tags' adhering to parts of a sperm cell's DNA] is at least temporarily erased."
"But finding a molecular signature in sperm brings us at least a step closer to determining whether child abuse might affect the health of the victim's offspring."
Andrea Roberts, research scientist, Harvard Chan School

People with complex trauma appear like they are always anticipating or responding to a threat.  The Conversation

Two different studies, researching the after-effect trauma suffered by female victims of sexual assault and/or harassment impacting on health, and the second, the physiological effects of child abuse on male victims, impacting on their development, the psychological harm expressed with alterations to sperm cells' DNA leading to an epigenetic effect. The conclusion of both research studies parallel one another; that such assaults create an imprint on both mind and body, along with the possibility that this negative imprint could conceivably transcend generations.

Women with a history of sexual harassment or assault, according to the results of the first study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, emerge from their trauma with a heightened risk of depression and anxiety. The second of the two (unrelated) studies (published in Translational Psychiatry, reaches the conclusion that a "molecular scar" becomes established in sperm cells of boys whose early environmental exposure included habitual abuse.

Women, the first study concludes, who report having experienced sexual harassment at their workplace appear significantly likelier to suffer high blood pressure and higher triglycerides (blood fats) than those not exposed to such harassment, thus increasing their future risk of contracting heart disease. Sexual harassment and sexual assault were linked as well, with a two-fold greater likelihood of chronic insomnia setting in.

The report's co-author, Dr. Koenen, highlights a theory that sexual assault and harassment result in an autonomous response of fight-flight, a condition that fails to dissipate when the threat has passed, but lingers indefinitely, haunting that person's perceptions as a continual reminder of what had occurred, manifesting as an inimical lifestyle emotional trauma. The finding remained firm even when researchers took into account socio-economic standing, medication use and medical history, along with a range of additional factors.

Some 22 percent of women taking part in the study had experienced pressure with some element of unwanted sexual contact, while 19 percent had experienced sexual harassment at work either of a verbal or physical nature. The second study was where scientists studied the matter of child abuse's potential to affect sperm cells' DNA through attaching minuscule chemical 'tags' called methylation.

Methylation has the effect of activating or suppressing genes beyond what is considered normal. A process that scientists are coming around to believing is influenced by environment or life experiences; furthermore that these changes have the possibility of passing through generations as genetic endowments of a negative nature. Harvard University and the University of British Columbia researchers tested 48 sperm samples from 34 test subjects, adult men, 17 of whom reported a high level of physical or emotional abuse as children.

Striking variations were discovered in methylation between victims and non-victims of child abuse in a dozen regions of the men's genomes, linking some of the genes with neurodegenerative disorders, others yet in the body's immune-response. It remains unknown, however, whether the DNA tagging is able to survive fertilization to be passed down to children.

Developmental trauma disorder, not yet officially recognized, results from child maltreatment and has many neurobiologic consequences.  Clinical Adviser