It Still Hurts – Childhood Maltreatment Hampers Interpersonal Distance and Social Touch in Adulthood

What is it about?

Childhood maltreatment dramatically increases the risk for psychiatric disorders accompanied by profound difficulties in social interactions. However, it is still unclear how childhood maltreatment affects social interactions in adulthood. The authors found that adults with severe childhood maltreatment prefer a larger distance to an unfamiliar person and experience fast touch as less comforting than control subjects. Brain imaging revealed that individuals with childhood maltreatment exhibit hypersensitivity in the early sensory processing of social touch.

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