The effects of stressful life events and trauma on brain structure and subsequent development of psychopathology

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Stressful and traumatic events are recognised as important risk factors for a number of psychiatric disorders, however it hasbeen difficult to identify the mechanism of how stress leads to psychopathology (McEwen and Stellar, 1993). Previous work hasdemonstrated that stressful life events affect brain structure, notably observed as reduction in grey matter volume (GMV) withinregions such as the hippocampus, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and orbitofrontal cortex. It is theorised that an over-exposureto stress hormones such as glucocorticoids results in dendritic atrophy, reduced neurogenesis, and neuronal death, resulting inan observable reduction in GMV (Radley and Morrison, 2005).