Trauma, News, and Narrative

Author(s):  
Doug Underwood

This book investigates the impact of trauma and coverage of violence on journalists, the subjects of their coverage, and their audience—including the possibility that journalists who have suffered early life stress (such as unhappy childhoods and distorted family relationships) may gravitate toward high-risk assignments, such as war reporting. It examines the sources and the consequences of traumatic experience in the lives of 150 journalist–literary figures in American and British history dating from the early 1700s to today—from Daniel Defoe and Jonathan Swift to Charles Dickens and Ernest Hemingway—and the traumatic events in their lives that can be viewed as contributing to their emotional struggles, the vicissitudes of their journalism careers, and their development as artists. It considers the ways that their experiences in journalism may have contributed to these writers' psychological stress and played a role in their mental health history. The book demonstrates how the intersection of journalism and fiction writing offers important insights about trauma's role in literary expression.

PLoS ONE ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. e0142228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matteo M. Pusceddu ◽  
Sahar El Aidy ◽  
Fiona Crispie ◽  
Orla O’Sullivan ◽  
Paul Cotter ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
V.A. Vokina

Long-term consequences of impaired perinatal development are very significant. They appear during the neonatal period and in the first years of life, and persist during ontogenesis. There is little data on the impact of any prenatal factors on the sensitivity of a sexually mature organism to medications. The aim of the study is to assess the impact of early life stress on the development of individual antidepressant sensitivity. Materials and Methods. The authors conducted the experiments on sexually mature outbred male rats. To simulate the early life stress, a standard protocol was used. From the 2nd to 15th days of the postnatal period the pup rats were separated from their mother for 3 hours and kept in an incubator. The open-field test, Porsolt test and Sucrose consumption test were used to determine rat’s anxiety level as well as motor, orientation and exploratory activity at puberty. Then, for 14 days, the rats were intragastrically administered with a fluoxetine solution (10 mg/kg/daily), followed by their full examination. Statistical analysis of results was performed using the Mann-Whitney U-test to compare unrelated groups and Wilcoxon's test to compare related groups. Results. Fluoxetine did not have a pronounced antidepressant effect in animals that survived the early life stress. Such animals demonstrated passive floating during the Porsolt test, without any changes in immobility time. When testing in an open field, a sharp increase in the number of freezing behavior was observed, which was an indicator of an increased anxiety level in animals. Conclusion. The results obtained indicate that the long-term effects of neonatal stress may be associated with a change in antidepressant sensitivity or an increase in development of unwanted adverse reactions. Keywords: early life stress, depression, antidepressants, fluoxetine, rats. Отдаленные последствия нарушения перинатального развития весьма значительны и не только проявляются в период новорожденности и в первые годы жизни, но и сохраняются в период онтогенеза. Данные о влиянии каких-либо пренатальных факторов на чувствительность половозрелого организма к действию лекарственных веществ в доступной литературе представлены незначительно. Цель исследования – оценить роль стресса раннего периода жизни в формировании индивидуальной чувствительности к действию антидепрессантов. Материалы и методы. Эксперименты проведены на половозрелых беспородных крысах-самцах. Для моделирования стресса раннего периода жизни использовали стандартный протокол, подразумевающий отделение детенышей от матери со 2-го по 15-й дни постнатального периода на 3 ч в условиях инкубатора. В половозрелом возрасте проводили оценку уровня тревожности, двигательной и ориентировочно-исследовательской активности крыс в условиях теста открытого поля, теста Порсолта и теста «Потребление раствора сахарозы». Затем в течение 14 дней крысам внутрижелудочно вводили раствор флуоксетина (10 мг/кг/сут), после чего обследование повторяли в том же объеме. Статистический анализ результатов исследования проводили с использованием U-критерия Манна–Уитни для сравнения несвязанных групп и критерия Вилкоксона для сравнения связанных групп. Результаты. У животных, переживших стресс раннего периода жизни, флуоксетин не оказывал выраженного антидепрессантного действия. У данных животных в тесте Порсолта преобладало пассивное плавание, без изменения длительности иммобильности. При тестировании в открытом поле наблюдалось резкое повышение числа актов фризинга, что является показателем повышенного уровня тревожности у животных. Выводы. Полученные результаты свидетельствуют о том, что отдаленные последствия неонатального стресса могут быть связанны с изменением чувствительности к действию антидепрессантов или повышением риска развития нежелательных побочных реакций. Ключевые слова: стресс раннего периода жизни, депрессия, антидепрессанты, флуоксетин, крысы.


2019 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marion Rincel ◽  
Muriel Darnaudéry

The developmental period constitutes a critical window of sensitivity to stress. Indeed, early-life adversity increases the risk to develop psychiatric diseases, but also gastrointestinal disorders such as the irritable bowel syndrome at adulthood. In the past decade, there has been huge interest in the gut–brain axis, especially as regards stress-related emotional behaviours. Animal models of early-life adversity, in particular, maternal separation (MS) in rodents, demonstrate lasting deleterious effects on both the gut and the brain. Here, we review the effects of MS on both systems with a focus on stress-related behaviours. In addition, we discuss more recent findings showing the impact of gut-directed interventions, including nutrition with pre- and probiotics, illustrating the role played by gut microbiota in mediating the long-term effects of MS. Overall, preclinical studies suggest that nutritional approaches with pro- and prebiotics may constitute safe and efficient strategies to attenuate the effects of early-life stress on the gut–brain axis. Further research is required to understand the complex mechanisms underlying gut–brain interaction dysfunctions after early-life stress as well as to determine the beneficial impact of gut-directed strategies in a context of early-life adversity in human subjects.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zsofia P. Cohen ◽  
Kelly T. Cosgrove ◽  
Danielle C. DeVille ◽  
Elisabeth Akeman ◽  
Manpreet K. Singh ◽  
...  

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought on far-reaching consequences for adolescents. Adolescents with early life stress (ELS) may be at particular risk. We sought to examine how COVID-19 impacted psychological functioning in a sample of healthy and ELS-exposed adolescents during the pandemic.Methods: A total of 24 adolescents (15 healthy, nine ELS) completed self-report measures prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The effect of COVID-19 on symptoms of depression and anxiety were explored using linear mixed-effect analyses.Results: With the onset of the pandemic, healthy but not ELS-exposed adolescents evidenced increased symptoms of depression and anxiety (ps < 0.05). Coping by talking with friends and prioritizing sleep had a protective effect against anxiety for healthy adolescents (t = −3.76, p = 0.002).Conclusions: On average, this study demonstrated large increases in depression and anxiety in adolescents who were healthy prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, while ELS-exposed adolescents evidenced high but stable symptoms over time.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gayane Grigoryan ◽  
Menahem Segal

Early life adversaries have a profound impact on the developing brain structure and functions that persist long after the original traumatic experience has vanished. One of the extensively studied brain structures in relation to early life stress has been the hippocampus because of its unique association with cognitive processes of the brain. While the entire hippocampus shares the same intrinsic organization, it assumes different functions in its dorsal and ventral sectors (DH and VH, resp.), based on different connectivity with other brain structures. In the present review, we summarize the differences between DH and VH and discuss functional and structural effects of prenatal stress in the two sectors, with the realization that much is yet to be explored in understanding the opposite reactivity of the DH and VH to stressful stimulation.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. e0139721 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matteo M. Pusceddu ◽  
Sahar El Aidy ◽  
Fiona Crispie ◽  
Orla O’Sullivan ◽  
Paul Cotter ◽  
...  

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 144-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret J Morris ◽  
Vivian Le ◽  
Jayanthi Maniam

2005 ◽  
Vol 04 (01) ◽  
pp. 27-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALEXANDER McFARLANE ◽  
CHRISTOPHER R. CLARK ◽  
RICHARD A. BRYANT ◽  
LEANNE M. WILLIAMS ◽  
RAYMOND NIAURA ◽  
...  

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