Stress and the Brain

Abstract

This chapter reviews associations between early life stress and brain structure and function as assessed by structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging. Particularly, this chapter focuses on structural associations in children and adults and the regional overlap with neural alterations observed in major depressive disorder, though we also more briefly cover diffusion imaging, task-based imaging, and resting-state functional connectivity. Major depressive disorder is highlighted given that early life stress is a critical risk factor for depression and the neural alterations observed with stress and depression may serve as key mediating factors of this association. A brief methodological overview is provided for each neuroimaging domain as well as a discussion of limitations and future directions for this field.