Your Stress is Hurting My Brain

It has been known for some time that stress and emotions can be contagious, especially when they occur in people we are particularly close to and care about.  When someone is stressed out, those around them can feel the stress and come to experience it themselves. Similarly with emotions. When we are constantly around people experiencing negative emotions we begin to feel the same way.  One of the most researched area looking at these types of associations has shown that living with someone who is depressed or anxious can lead us to become depressed or anxious. The effects of stress has been shown to not just be emotional in nature.  Stress has been shown to permanently alter our brains in terms of brain chemistry, structure and function.

Now, a new study suggest that we should be more concerned about second hand
stress.  The study, conducted by a team at the Cumming School of Medicine's
Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI), at the University of Calgary suggests that stress in
one person can alter the brain of another person the same way that real stress does.  
Using a mouse model, the study also indicated that the effects of stress on the brain
were reversed in female mice after a social interaction. However, this was not the case
for the male mice.

Using pairs of mice, one mouse from the pair was exposed to a stressor then returned
to its partner who had not been exposed.  They responses of CRH neurons which
control the brain’s reaction to stress were then examined in both mice. It was found
that the brains of both mice were affected in exactly the same way.

This study was found to be particularly important because brain changes associated
with stress are thought to underlie  many mental disorders including PTSD, depression
and anxiety disorders. It is not known at this time whether stress experienced through
contagion has lasting or permanent effects on the brain.  

Jaideep Bains, the lead researcher for the study said,  "We readily communicate our stress to others, sometimes without even knowing it. There is even evidence that some symptoms of stress can persist in family and loved ones of individuals who suffer from PTSD. On the flip side, the ability to sense another's emotional state is a key part of creating and building social bonds."

This study demonstrates that stress and social interactions are closely connected. The
outcomes of these relationships can be long-lasting.  They may alter our emotions,
physiology, neurology and behaviors over a lengthy period or the effects may resurface
at a later time. The degree to which the changes may be irreversible is unclear and the
question needs further study. 

Resources

Toni-Lee Sterley, Dinara Baimoukhametova, Tamás Füzesi, Agnieszka A. Zurek,
Nuria Daviu, Neilen P. Rasiah, David Rosenegger, Jaideep S. Bains (2018). Social
transmission and buffering of synaptic changes after stress. Nature Neuroscience.
DOI: 10.1038/s41593-017-0044-6