Neurobiological factors underlying psychosocial moderators of childhood stress and trauma

This chapter discusses resilience as a psychological construct, and describes some of the neurobiological and psychosocial features that are believed to characterize stress-resilient individuals. It reviews the current understanding regarding the neurobiology of stress resilience, including neurocircuitry, neurochemistry and the role of gene-environment interactions. The chapter deals with a consideration of information-processing theory and a discussion of the neurobiological basis of social support in the development of stress resilience. The neurocircuitry of stress resilience consists of a variety of brain structures intimately involved in mediating the stress response, including the amygdala, hypothalamus, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. Gene-environment interactions, as typified by the diathesis-stress model of illness, are important factors in the development of stress resilience. Different forms of social support have been shown to play a role in the development of stress resilience and in reversing stress-related adverse changes.