Understanding stress: brain, body and mind

Chronic stress is a significant contributor to both physical and mental ill health and childhood adversity, often an underlying cause of processes involved in the development of chronic stress, is a well known transdiagnostic risk factor for conditions such as depression and schizophrenia. In this presentation I will provide an overview of some of the research my lab has conducted over the past 12 years which has aimed to better understand stress at the level  of the brain, body and mind.  As a neuroscientist and psychobiologist, my work has focussed on cognitive processes linked to brain regions we know are key to our ability to manage stress as well as  the impact of functional gene variants and altered cortisol release patterns.  We have found support for the wider literature showing that those who are more stress sensitive respond differently at the physiological and psychological level in response to laboratory induced stress and increasingly I have become interested in how we can help reduce the negative impacts of stress through mindfulness.  I will present preliminary findings from an 8 week community based mindfulness programme as well as some discussion on retention and mental health outcomes from a wider UK dataset.   Finally, I will outline my hopes and dreams for my programme of stress research at York including what I believe we need to do next at a neural, cognitive and physiological level to better understand the impacts of adversity and the way in which we might be able to work to develop more trauma-informed approaches to supporting good mental health.