Neural Mechanisms of Early-Life Social Stress as a Developmental Risk Factor for Severe Psychiatric Disorders

2018 ◽  
Vol 84 (2) ◽  
pp. 116-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Rochus Reinwald ◽  
Robert Becker ◽  
Anne Stephanie Mallien ◽  
Claudia Falfan-Melgoza ◽  
Markus Sack ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factor ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Social Stress ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Developmental Risk

scholarly journals Serotonin and arginine–vasopressin mediate sex differences in the regulation of dominance and aggression by the social brain

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (46) ◽  
pp. 13233-13238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph I. Terranova ◽  
Zhimin Song ◽  
Tony E. Larkin ◽  
Nathan Hardcastle ◽  
Alisa Norvelle ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Arginine Vasopressin ◽  
Social Engagement ◽  
Social Stress ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Targeted Drugs ◽  
Social Brain ◽  
The Social

There are profound sex differences in the incidence of many psychiatric disorders. Although these disorders are frequently linked to social stress and to deficits in social engagement, little is known about sex differences in the neural mechanisms that underlie these phenomena. Phenotypes characterized by dominance, competitive aggression, and active coping strategies appear to be more resilient to psychiatric disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) compared with those characterized by subordinate status and the lack of aggressiveness. Here, we report that serotonin (5-HT) and arginine–vasopressin (AVP) act in opposite ways in the hypothalamus to regulate dominance and aggression in females and males. Hypothalamic injection of a 5-HT1a agonist stimulated aggression in female hamsters and inhibited aggression in males, whereas injection of AVP inhibited aggression in females and stimulated aggression in males. Striking sex differences were also identified in the neural mechanisms regulating dominance. Acquisition of dominance was associated with activation of 5-HT neurons within the dorsal raphe in females and activation of hypothalamic AVP neurons in males. These data strongly indicate that there are fundamental sex differences in the neural regulation of dominance and aggression. Further, because systemically administered fluoxetine increased aggression in females and substantially reduced aggression in males, there may be substantial gender differences in the clinical efficacy of commonly prescribed 5-HT–active drugs such as selective 5-HT reuptake inhibitors. These data suggest that the treatment of psychiatric disorders such as PTSD may be more effective with the use of 5-HT–targeted drugs in females and AVP-targeted drugs in males.

Neural mechanisms of the cognitive control of emotion

2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 144-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa J. Green ◽  
Gin S. Malhi
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Psychological Health ◽  
Emotion Dysregulation ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Cognitive Strategies ◽  
Emotion Perception ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Emotion Generation

Background:Emotion regulation involves the initiation of new emotional responses and continual alteration of current emotions in response to rapidly changing environmental and social stimuli. The capacity to effectively implement emotion regulation strategies is essential for psychological health; impairments in the ability to regulate emotions may be critical to the development of clinical levels of depression, anxiety and mania.Objective:This review provides a summary of findings from current research examining the neural mechanisms of emotion regulation by means of conscious cognitive strategies of reappraisal. These findings are considered in the context of related concepts of emotion perception and emotion generation, with discussion of the likely cognitive neuropsychological contributions to emotion regulation and the implications for psychiatric disorders.Results:Convergent evidence implicates an inhibitory role of prefrontal cortex and cingulate regions upon subcortical and cortical emotion generation systems in the cognitive control of emotional experience. Concurrent modulation of cortical activity by the peripheral nervous system is highlighted by recent studies using simultaneous physiological and neuroimaging techniques. Individual differences in emotion perception, generation of affect and neuropsychological skills are likely to have direct consequences for emotion regulation.Conclusions:Emotion regulation relies on synergy within brain stem, limbic and cortical processes that promote the adaptive perception, generation and regulation of affect. Aberrant emotion processing in any of these stages may disrupt this self-sustaining regulatory system, with the potential to manifest in distinct forms of emotion dysregulation as seen in major psychiatric disorders such as depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Early life stress in epilepsy: A seizure precipitant and risk factor for epileptogenesis

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
pp. 160-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jolien S. van Campen ◽  
Floor E. Jansen ◽  
Pierre N.E. de Graan ◽  
Kees P.J. Braun ◽  
Marian Joels
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factor ◽  
Life Stress ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Early Life Stress

scholarly journals Psychological Autopsy Studies of Suicide in South East Asia

2021 ◽  
pp. 025371762110336
Author(s):  
S.M. Yasir Arafat ◽  
Vikas Menon ◽  
Natarajan Varadharajan ◽  
Sujita Kumar Kar
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Risk Factor ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Study Design ◽  
Case Control ◽  
Stressful Life ◽  
South East Asia ◽  
Psychological Autopsy ◽  
Case Control Studies

Background: Psychiatric disorders have been identified as an important risk factor for suicide. However, different psychological autopsy studies have revealed different prevalences at different times and places. Objective: We aimed to see the distribution of psychological autopsy studies and the prevalence of mental disorders among suicides and identify major risk factors in Southeast Asian countries. Method: We scrutinized psychological autopsy studies published in the World Health Organization (WHO) South-East Asia (SEA) region countries. We also searched the available bibliographies to identify the studies in the region so that all the possible articles could be included. Results: Out of the 11 countries, 14 psychological autopsy studies were identified in five SEA countries (Bangladesh [1], India [9], Indonesia [1], Nepal [1], and Sri Lanka [2]). Seven studies (50%) used a case-control study design, and eight (57.1%) were carried out in urban settings. The prevalence of psychiatric disorders in case-control studies was from 37% to 88%. Stressful life event was identified as a major risk factor in all the case-control studies. Conclusion: Psychological autopsy studies have not been conducted in 6 out of 11 countries of the SEA region. The presence of pre-existing psychiatric morbidity and stressful life events were the two most common risk factors noted across settings, even though there is wide heterogeneity in samples, study design, instruments, and study settings.

Familial risk factors and the familial aggregation of psychiatric disorders

1990 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 311-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth S. Kendler
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Risk Factor ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Genetic Factors ◽  
Familial Aggregation ◽  
Familial Risk ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Potential Importance ◽  
Obstetric Injury ◽  
Familial Risk Factors

SynopsisAll major psychiatric disorders aggregate in families. For most disorders, both genes and environmental factors play an important role in this aggregation. While recent work has tended to concentrate on the importance of genetic factors, this report focuses on the potential importance of environmental risk factors which themselves aggregate in families. In particular, this article examines how much of the familial aggregation of a psychiatric disorder may result from the familial aggregation of a risk factor. The model is illustrated and then applied to putative familial risk factors for schizophrenia and depression. The results of the model suggest that if parental loss and exposure to pathogenic rearing practices are true risk factors for depression, then they could account for a significant proportion of the familial aggregation of depression. By contrast, the model predicts that even if obstetric injury and low social class are true risk factors for schizophrenia, they together would account for only a very small proportion of the tendency for schizophrenia to aggregate in families.

The ‘well control’ artefact in case/control studies of specific psychiatric disorders

1989 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 737-742 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Schwartz ◽  
Bruce G. Link
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factor ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Group Selection ◽  
Case Control ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Case Control Studies ◽  
Suggested Approach ◽  
Well Control ◽  
Risk Factor Assessment ◽  
Intuitive Appeal

SynopsisAn appropriate choice of controls in case/control studies of specific psychiatric disorders is crucial for valid risk-factor assessment. One suggested approach to control-group selection, the use of a well control group, is the focus of this paper. While using well controls has intuitive appeal, this paper shows that such a procedure can lead to ambiguous and biased results.

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