Dr Pia Pechtel - A Clinical-Neurodevelopmental Model of Childhood Maltreatment

Childhood maltreatment is a prevalent public health problem and is associated with increased risk for psychological disorders and risk-taking behaviors. Yet, the behavioral and neurobiological mechanisms linking childhood maltreatment to maladaptive outcomes in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood remain largely unknown. Understanding such processes will be pivotal to informing the development of interventions that target the clinical sequelae of child maltreatment and foster resilience across development. In this talk, I will merge clinical, developmental and neuroscientific approaches to evaluate whether reward learning and emotion regulation serve as mechanisms that link child maltreatment to high-risk behavior (e.g., self-harm, substance use). Future directions on how to improve our understanding of neurobiological vulnerabilities to psychological disorders and aspects pivotal to promoting resilient functioning following childhood maltreatment will be explored.