Associations Between Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety and Cortisol Responses to and Recovery from Acute Stress

The ability to rapidly and adaptively respond to environmental threats and stressors is critical to survival. Interactive physiological responses involving the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and autonomic nervous systems influence metabolic, immune, and cardiovascular parameters in order to aid the body in responding appropriately to environmental demands (McEwen, 1998). This process of achieving stability through change, first introduced by Sterling and Eyer (Sterling and Eyer, 1988), is known as ‘allostasis’.

Source: Psychoneuroendocrinology - November 24, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Alexander Fiksdal, Luke Hanlin, Yuliya Kuras, Danielle Gianferante, Xuejie Chen, Myriam V. Thoma, Nicolas Rohleder Source Type: research