The Psychobiology of Stress
Abstract
Stressful life experience can have significant effects on a variety of physiological systems, including the autonomic nervous system, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, and the immune system. These relationships can be bidirectional; for example, immune cell products can act on the brain, altering mood and cognition, potentially contributing to depression. Although acute physiological alterations may be adaptive in the short term, chronic or repeated provocation can result in damage to health. The central dogma in the field of stress research assumes a stereotyped physiological response to all stressors (the generality model). However, increasing evidence suggests that specific stressful conditions and the specific way an organism appraises these conditions can elicit qualitatively distinct emotional and physiological responses (the integrated specificity model). For example, appraisals of threat (vs. challenge), uncontrollability, and negative social evaluation have been shown to provoke specific psychobiological responses. Emotional responses appear to have specific neural substrates, which can result in differentiated alterations in peripheral physiological systems, so that it is incorrect to presume a uniform stress response.
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Adverse early environments (e.g., lack of parental care, emotional neglect, insufficient nursing) can cause profound alterations in the activities of the sympathetic nervous system, parasympathetic nervous system, and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.
“Animal and human studies have provided ample evidence that adverse early environments (e.g., lack of parental care, emotional neglect, insufficient nursing) can cause profound alterations in the activities of the sympathetic nervous system, parasympathetic nervous system, and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis constituting the fundamental elements of a highly integrated physiological regulatory”
From A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ON THE IMPACT OF EXPOSURE TO INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH (2014) · cites this paper as Kemeny, 2003
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- Authors
- Kemeny, M. E.
- Affiliations
- University of California, San Francisco (US)
- Corresponding author
- Kemeny, Margaret E.
- Venue
- Current Directions in Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2003-08
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 124-129
- ISSN
- 0963-7214 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-8721
- OpenAlex
- W2122262329
- Cited by
- 519
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 32 · 2024: 37 · 2023: 40 · 2022: 42 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 20 · 2019: 33 · 2018: 25 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 26 · 2015: 24 · 2014: 19 · 2013: 26 · 2012: 28
- FWCI
- 3.14
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Current Directions in Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Ohio State University
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Keywords
- stress, psychobiology, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, autonomic nervous system, immune system, depression, chronic stress, threat appraisal, challenge appraisal, uncontrollability, social evaluation, emotional responses
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