We’ve all known people who seemed unflappable; no matter what happens, they never seem to lose their composure or fly off the handle. But on the other hand, most of us also know people who seem overly excitable, or have a low threshold to stress. For many years the differences in how people handle stress were mostly attributed to their upbringing and personal attitude. But now there is new evidence that stress is actually linked to specific neural pathways in the brain that transmit chemicals used when we communicate. Could this mean that some of us are simply hard-wired for stress?
The University of Texas Medical Center recently completed research that suggests that brain cells used in communication operate differently from one person to the next. In addition, the research shows that this difference in so-called “communication brain cells” is also highly correlated with an ability — or inability — to handle stress effectively.
In studies carried out with white mice, for example, it was shown that mice who exhibited symptoms of depression had much higher levels of certain chemicals in specific brain cells. On discovering this, researchers examined human brain tissue, and confirmed that the same basic structure existed with in the brains of humans showing signs of depression. In particular, the compound known as BDFN was found to be much higher in certain brain cells of depressed people.
Researchers are now theorizing that there may be a way to control, or at least regulate, the release of the BDFN compound, increasing a person’s ability to exhibit resilience in the face of stress or depression. The research is still new and more studies are needed, so at this point scientists are unable to say which other brain processes BDNF may control. Researchers are hoping that additional studies will shed some light on the exact workings of the compound.
One of the biggest insights of this latest study is that it suggests that stress resilience is an ongoing and active process. This could change the way doctors and psychologists treat anxiety, depression and other stress related disorders.
If further research can confirm the current theories about BDNF, it could lead to a breakthrough in treating anxiety-related disorders and depression, as well as a new methods to pre-empt the occurrence of low stress tolerance in individuals who might be otherwise predisposed toward a more anxious temperament.
So the bad news is, some of us may in fact be hard-wired toward anxiety. Of course, this does not mean that a person will exhibit symptoms of anxiety-related problems, but only that they are more likely to experience the symptoms than some other people.
The good news is that once this stress mechanism within the brain is confirmed, it is much more likely researchers will be able to develop a way to control and regulate the production of the stress-causing compounds.
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