CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCE: PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH COMPLICATIONS IN CHILDREN DEPRIVED OF FATHERHOOD

Introduction: Maternal separation and neonatal paternal deprivation (PPD) have had profound and persistent effects on the physiological and behavioral development of children, with other problems neglected in professional practice, such as adverse childhood emotions and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children, which accumulate evidence of the same cumulative effects while a harmful vicious cycle is not identified. Objective: To update the different areas of professional activity, which exert direct or indirect influence on the mental health of children, such as social workers, lawyers, judges, psychologists, psychiatrists, doctors, and educators, as well as the parents themselves, through concrete evidence from neuroscience and psychosocial neurobiology, exclusive to paternal deprivation. Methods: Review of the literature and performance of a clinical synthesis with theoretical implications, based on neurobiological and neurogenomic mechanisms, which demonstrates a concrete and harmful factor for evolutionary medicine. Results and Discussion: There are few studies on paternal deprivation in humans, and many studies in rats and mice were used to explore the mechanisms in this review, as they are equivalent to human brains. In addition to the harmful effects of deprivation, we explored other neurobiological mechanisms that are associated with paternal presence. Conclusion: This work brings together some consequences for the physical and mental health of children, as well as their future generations, which are being neglected and complicated by several professionals in medicine, law, psychology, social assistance, and politics.