The neurobiology of stress management.

February 13, 2010

The neurobiology of stress management.

Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2010 Feb 11;31(1):30

Authors:

BACKGROUND and OBJECTIVE: Stress is natural and belongs to life itself. To sustain it and even grow with it biology invented different mechanisms, since stress resistance is obligatory. These pathways, we surmise, can be activated and learned intentionally, through professional stress management training or ‘mind-body medicine’, or endogenously and automatically through autoregulation. Since the primary goal of various stress-reducing approaches is corresponding, we expect to find an overlapping physiology and neurobiological principle of stress reduction. These common pathways, as we speculate, involve some of the very same signalling molecules and structures. METHODS: Concepts of stress and stress management are described and then associated with underlying molecular and neurobiological pathways. Evidence is gathered from different sources to substantiate the hypothesis of an overlapping neurobiological principle in stress autoregulation. RESULTS: Stress describes the capacity and mechanisms to sustain and adjust to externally or internally challenging situations. Therefore, organisms can rely on the endogenous ability to self-regulate stress and stressors, i.e., autoregulatory stress management. Stress management usually consists of one to all of the following instruments and activities: behavioral or cognitive, exercise, relaxation and nutritional or food interventions (BERN), including social support and spirituality. These columns can be analyzed for their underlying neurobiological and autoregulatory pathways, thereby revealing a close connection to the brain’s pleasure, reward and motivation circuits that are particularly bound to limbic structures and to endogenous dopamine, morphine, and nitric oxide (NO) signalling. Within this work, we demonstrate the existence of opioid, opiate, dopamine and related pathways for each of the selected stress management columns. DISCUSSION: Stress management techniques may possess specific and distinct physiological effects. However, beneficial behaviors and strategies to overcome stress are, as a more general principle, neurobiologically rewarded by pleasure induction, yet positively and physiologically amplified and reinforced, and this seems to work via dopamine, endorphin and morphine release, apart from other messenger molecules. These latter effects are unspecific, however, down-regulatory and clearly stress-reducing by their nature. CONCLUSIONS: There seems to exist a common neurobiological mechanism, i.e., limbic autoregulation, that involves dopamine, morphine and other endogenous signalling molecules, e.g., other opioid receptor agonists, endocannabinoids, oxytocin or serotonin, many of which act via NO release, and this share seems to be of critical importance for the self-regulation and management of stress: stress management is an endogenous potential.

PMID: 20150886 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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Study Shows Those With Anxiety Disorder Less Able To Regulate Response To Negative Emotions

February 12, 2010

People with generalized anxiety disorder, or GAD, have abnormalities in the way their brain unconsciously controls emotions. That’s the conclusion of a new Stanford University School of Medicine study, and the study authors say the findings could open up new avenues for treatments and change our understanding of how emotion is regulated in everyday life…

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Two Studies Explore The Consequences Of Not Reporting Sexual Abuse

January 21, 2010

Half of sexual abuse survivors wait up to five years before disclosing they were victimized, according to a collaborative study from the Université de Montréal, the Universite du Quebec a Montreal and the Universite de Sherbrooke published in The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry…

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Using The Web To Treat Panic Disorder

January 20, 2010

An online treatment system for patients suffering with panic disorder and anxiety problems combine biofeedback therapy with web technologies and allows patients and medical professionals to communicate effectively, according to research published in the International Journal of Business Intelligence and Data Mining…

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European Research Council Grant For Neuroscience Research

January 15, 2010

Zachary Mainen, coordinator of the Champalimaud Foundation Neuroscience Programme at the IGC, has become one of the most recent winners of the prestigious and highly competitive European Research Council grants, to the value of 2.3 million euro, for a period of five years…

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When Work Interferes With Life

January 14, 2010

As many as 50 per cent of people bring their work home with them regularly, according to new research out of the University of Toronto that describes the stress associated with work-life balance and the factors that predict it. Researchers measured the extent to which work was interfering with personal time using data from a national survey of 1,800 American workers…

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Before Or After Birth, Gene Linked To Mental Health Has Different Effects

January 6, 2010

Scientists have long eyed mutations in a gene known as DISC1 as a possible contributor to schizophrenia and mood disorders, including depression and bipolar disorder…

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A novel insight into neuroprotection against hypoxic/ischemic stress.

December 24, 2009

A novel insight into neuroprotection against hypoxic/ischemic stress.

Sheng Li Xue Bao. 2009 Dec 25;61(6):585-92

Authors: Feng Y, Chao D, He X, Yang Y, Kang X, Lazarus LH, Xia Y

The use of opioid analgesics has a long history in clinical settings, although the functions of opioid receptors, especially their role in the brain, are not well understood yet. Recent studies have generated abundant new data on opioid receptor-mediated functions and the underlying mechanisms. The most exciting finding in the past decade is probably the neuroprotection against hypoxic/ischemic stress mediated by delta-opioid receptors (DOR). An up-regulation of DOR expression and the release of endogenous opioids may increase neuronal tolerance to hypoxic/ischemic stress. The DOR signal triggers, depending on stress duration and severity, different mechanisms at multiple levels to preserve neuronal survival, including the stabilization of ionic homeostasis, an increase in pro-survival signaling (e.g., PKC-ERK-Bcl 2) and the enhanced anti-oxidative capacity. Recent data on DOR-mediated neuroprotection provide us a new concept of neuroprotection against neurological disorders and have a potentially significant impact on the prevention and treatment of some serious neurological conditions, such as stroke.

PMID: 20029693 [PubMed - in process]

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Could Acetaminophen Ease Psychological Pain?

December 23, 2009

Headaches and heartaches. Broken bones and broken spirits. Hurting bodies and hurt feelings. We often use the same words to describe physical and mental pain. Over-the-counter pain relieving drugs have long been used to alleviate physical pain, while a host of other medications have been employed in the treatment of depression and anxiety…

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