Child abuse, unfortunately, has become a common thing in society. Many children are abused. The lucky few are distanced from their abusers and given therapeutic help, if available, while the abuse of others continues to go unreported; emotional abuse doesn't seem to be reported because people tend to ignore it. People who experience emotional abuse at a young age are more likely to suffer from depression, because their emotional neglect leads to inappropriate feelings of worthlessness or guilt that could trigger the symptoms of depression; they may view themselves in a more negative light due to the negativity around them instead of thinking about themselves positively. To support or refute this claim, in my research essay I looked at two studies examining how child abuse could lead to depression or major depressive disorder (MDD); the studies were correlational and experimental. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"? Get the original essay Hanson, Hariri, and Williamson's (2015) first research article was a longitudinal correlational study examining how emotional neglect (EN) , ventral striatum activity is correlated with depression; The ventral striatum is a subcortical structure that supports reward responsiveness and learning. It has been theorized that the ventral striatum is linked to depression due to a decrease in reward-related ventral striatum activity. Psychological factors that protect against MDD, including optimism and positive self-concept, are linked to increased reward-related activity in the ventral striatum. Some studies have noted that low ventral striatum activity is present in maltreated children and adults who were maltreated as children. The study used longitudinal neuroimaging along with behavioral data to test their hypothesis that reward-related changes in ventral striatal activity would be linked to emotional neglect (abuse) leading to the development of depressive symptoms later in life. the life ; Higher levels of emotional neglect (abuse) are thought to be linked to a sharp decrease in ventral striatum activity. The study followed 106 participants originally recruited for a study on depression and alcohol use disorders. They conducted in-person interviews, self-reported behavioral assessments, and MRI scans; they were called back each year to complete interviews, questionnaires and follow-up MRI scans. All participants had to be free of psychopathology, with the exception of anxiety, of which 16 participants suffered. Depressive symptoms were measured using the Child Mood and Feelings Questionnaire version, which has high consistency and test-retest reliability. Emotional neglect was assessed using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire; participants were assessed in the first and second scanning sessions and then averaged to create a measure of emotional neglect. To assess reward-related activity in the ventral striatum, participants participated in a card-guessing pattern involving three blocks consisting of predominantly positive feedback, then negative feedback, then zero feedback; participants would earn a monetary reward based on their performance. The results supported their hypothesis. ThereEmotional neglect was associated with changes in ventral striatum activity. The lower the activity in the ventral striatum, the more participants reported emotional neglect; The higher the ventral striatum, the less emotionally neglected participants reported being. Depressive symptoms were also associated with low ventral striatum activity. So when emotional neglect had a high score, the ventral striatum had a low score, which then affected the person's mood, causing depressive symptoms, because higher activity in the ventral striatum led to poor self-image. more optimistic and positive. Furthermore, the change in ventral striatum activity related to reward (positive feedback) was linked to emotional neglect and depressive symptoms. The study continues to discuss that when parents are emotionally unavailable and unresponsive, it can lead to difficulty regulating their emotions; the lack of interactions could lead to negative feelings about oneself as well as low self-esteem. To possibly prevent depression in children with a history of abuse (emotional, physical, mental and sexual), the study results show the possibility of using a medication, activity or therapy that helped increase activity of the ventral striatum. If an abused child was still able to respond to rewards or positive feedback and not lack optimism, self-esteem, and positive thinking, depression could be thwarted. However, abused children fail to develop a positive attitude towards themselves due to the negativity in their lives and the punishments given to them. I think the abused children may not have responded to positive feedback during the paradigm because of the irrational reasons they were punished or abused by their caregivers. The study is limited, however, due to the short period over which participants were followed; if the researchers had followed them over the past two years, would the results have been different? Could we have seen an increase in ventral striatum activity linked to reward and would participants develop depression? Furthermore, because this was a correlational study, it cannot be determined with certainty that depression is the result of poor treatment leading to low activity in the ventral striatum; the study shows a correlation and not a causal link. So, this neither proves nor disproves my statement. To better understand how maltreatment affects children, I examined an experimental study by Guyer et al. (2006), in which children were asked to play a game that required them to guess to get money. rewards (positive feedback); their selection speed would be recorded by the computer they played the game on. Researchers obtained children with a history of maltreatment from the Connecticut Department of Children Services (DCF) and a control group of children obtained through to advertisements which had not been mistreated; the children were not randomly assigned. They obtained permission from each child's legal guardian as well as the children's consent. Children received $15 and parents received $25. They would be presented with choices that would encourage them to take risks to achieve the greatest reward; they would choose what they thought the computer would choose (they would be given percentages as to the probability that the computer would land on the number) and would win the corresponding amount if the robot chose.