Children subjected to physical abuse or exposed to domestic violence have been found to have similar brain patterns as soldiers fighting in dangerous combat situations.

Lebanese children are seen playing through a house's window shattered by bullets in the northern Lebanese village of Wadi Kahled near the Lebanese-Syrian border December 3, 2011. REUTERS/Omar Ibrahim

Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans from forty-three children, the researchers from the University College London (UCL) and the Anna Freud Centre tested how domestic violence and abuse impacted their mental health.

After being shown images of angry faces, the researchers found increased brain activity in the anterior insula and amygdala regions of the twenty children exposed to domestic violence. These particular regions are responsible for detecting any incoming threats.

The other twenty-three children who were shown the same images (but had no experience with domestic violence) did not have the same reaction.

"We are only now beginning to understand how child abuse influences functioning of the brain's emotional systems. This research is important because it provides our first clues as to how regions in the child's brain may adapt to early experiences of abuse in the home," said Dr. Eamon McCrory, the lead author from the Division of Psychology and Language Sciences at UCL, as mentioned in their Web site.

"All the children studied were healthy and none were suffering from a mental health problem. What we have shown is that exposure to family violence is associated with altered brain functioning in the absence of psychiatric symptoms and that these alterations may represent an underlying neural risk factor. We suggest these changes may be adaptive for the child in the short term but may increase longer term risk," explained McCrory.

Previous MRI brain scan studies conducted on combat soldiers showed the same brain activity in these two particular regions.

Apart from detecting threats, the anterior insula and amygdala regions are known to be active in people who have developed anxiety disorders.

As such, it might be possible that children who learn to be extremely aware of any incoming danger in their immediate environment have greater tendencies of developing mental health problems in the future.

"The report should energize clinicians and social workers to double their efforts to safeguard children from violence. By helping us understand the consequences of maltreatment the findings also offer fresh inspiration for the development of effective treatment strategies to protect children from the consequences of maltreatment," added Professor Peter Fonagy, a professor of psychology at UCL and the chief executive of the Anna Freud Centre.