Is shame the missing link between traumatic experiences and post-traumatic stress disorder in Burundian children living on the streets?

Background: Shame is an emotion reflecting an anticipated social devaluation of the self. It is strongly associated with experiences of humiliation and rejection in early life. Individuals suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often struggle with shame. However, little is known about how shame contributes to the develop ment and maintenance of PTSD symptoms in children. The present study investi gated the ways childhood exposure to human-induced traumatic events promotes a coping mechanism of defeat and withdrawal facilitated by the experience of shame. We tested a dose–response relationship between lifetime experienced traumatic event types and PTSD in children using shame as a mediator. Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews with 33 male children who lived and worked on the streets of Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi at the time of data collection. We assessed self-reported PTSD symptom severity, lifetime traumatic event load, violence experienced on the streets and shame intensity. Results: Mediation analyses revealed a significant indirect effect of lifetime traumatic events on PTSD symptom severity through shame intensity and a significant indirect effect of violence experienced on the streets on PTSD symptom severity through shame intensity. Conclusion: Our study suggests the mediating role of shame between traumatic experiences as well as violent experiences and PTSD symptom severity in children living on the streets. Shame in children suffering from PTSD seems to play a crucial role in the development and maintenance of PTSD symptoms

Is shame the missing link between traumatic experiences and post-traumatic stress disorder in Burundian children living on the streets?

BackgroundShame is an emotion reflecting an anticipated social devaluation of the self. It is strongly associated with experiences of humiliation and rejection in early life. Individuals suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often struggle with shame. However, little is known about how shame contributes to the development and maintenance of PTSD symptoms in children. The present study investigated the ways childhood exposure to human-induced traumatic events promotes a coping mechanism of defeat and withdrawal facilitated by the experience of shame. We tested a dose–response relationship between lifetime experienced traumatic event types and PTSD in children using shame as a mediator.MethodsWe conducted semi-structured interviews with 33 male children who lived and worked on the streets of Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi at the time of data collection. We assessed self-reported PTSD symptom severity, lifetime traumatic event load, violence experienced on the streets and shame intensity.ResultsMediation analyses revealed a significant indirect effect of lifetime traumatic events on PTSD symptom severity through shame intensity and a significant indirect effect of violence experienced on the streets on PTSD symptom severity through shame intensity.ConclusionOur study suggests the mediating role of shame between traumatic experiences as well as violent experiences and PTSD symptom severity in children living on the streets. Shame in children suffering from PTSD seems to play a crucial role in the development and maintenance of PTSD symptoms.publishe

Measured proton electromagnetic structure deviates from theoretical predictions

The visible world is founded on the proton, the only composite building block of matter that is stable in nature. Consequently, understanding the formation of matter relies on explaining the dynamics and the properties of the proton's bound state. A fundamental property of the proton involves the response of the system to an external electromagnetic field. It is characterized by the electromagnetic polarizabilities(1) that describe how easily the charge and magnetization distributions inside the system are distorted by the electromagnetic field. Moreover, the generalized polarizabilities(2) map out the resulting deformation of the densities in a proton subject to an electromagnetic field. They disclose essential information about the underlying system dynamics and provide a key for decoding the proton structure in terms of the theory of the strong interaction that binds its elementary quark and gluon constituents. Of particular interest is a puzzle in the electric generalized polarizability of the proton that remains unresolved for two decades(2). Here we report measurements of the proton's electromagnetic generalized polarizabilities at low four-momentum transfer squared. We show evidence of an anomaly to the behaviour of the proton's electric generalized polarizability that contradicts the predictions of nuclear theory and derive its signature in the spatial distribution of the induced polarization in the proton. The reported measurements suggest the presence of a new, not-yet-understood dynamical mechanism in the proton and present notable challenges to the nuclear theory