BACKGROUND The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is a critical mediator linking stress to health. Understanding how to modulate its reactivity could potentially help reduce the detrimental health effects of HPA axis activation. Social evaluative threat is a potent activator of this system. Access to control and coping responses can reduce its reactivity to pharmacological activation. Co...

OBJECTIVE Several studies have emphasized the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and inadequate response of the biological stress system. However, other factors related to SES are rarely considered, such as cultural values, social norms, organization, language and communication skills, which raises the need to investigate cross-country differences in stress response. Although some s...

The Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) is a widely used protocol to induce stress in laboratory settings. Briefly, in the TSST, the test participant is asked to hold a speech and to do an arithmetic task in front of an audience. In the present pilot study, we examined endocrine and autonomic reactivity and habituation to repeated stress provocations using a virtual reality (VR) version of TSST. Th...

INTRODUCTION Psychological stress may alter immune function by activating physiological stress pathways. Building on our previous study, in which we report that stress management training led to an altered self-reported and cortisol response to psychological stress in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), we explored the effects of this stress management intervention on the immune response t...

This study explores the influence of pre-learning stress on performance on declarative memory tasks in healthy young adults in relation to sex and menstrual cycle phase. The sample was composed of 119 students (32 men and 87 women) from 18 to 25 years of age. The women were tested in different hormonal stages (30 in follicular phase, 34 in luteal phase, and 23 using oral contraceptives). The pa...

Chronic stress, physiological and psychological, has been strongly associated with the onset of psychopathology, highlighting the importance of research investigating the experiences of stress. A current model of the stress process includes stress appraisal, stress reactivity, and performance in stressful situations. Past research has treated performance as a dependent variable in this model, b...

There is ample evidence that the acute stress response is altered in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. However, it is not clear whether such changes are related to the illness, a genetic vulnerability, or is the result of medication that is used in the majority of these patients. Therefore, we investigated determinants of the acute endocrine and autonomic stress response in healthy controls (...

In psycho-allergological research, the potential relevance of personality factors in the maintenance and exacerbation of atopic symptoms is still a matter of debate. The present study aimed to assess personality dimensions in chronic atopic disease, i.e. atopic dermatitis (AD) and in acute manifestation of atopy (seasonal allergic rhinitis, SAR). Further, the association of a potentially atopy-...

Phosphatidylserine, derived from cow brains, has been shown previously to dampen the ACTH and cortisol response to physical stress. Further research investigated the influence of soy lecithin phosphatidylserine supplementation on mood and heart rate when faced with an acute stressor. In this study, we investigated the effects of soy lecithin phosphatidic acid and phosphatidylserine complex (PAS...

Extensive research among adults supports the biopsychosocial (BPS) model of challenge and threat, which describes relationships among stress appraisals, physiological stress reactivity, and performance; however, no previous studies have examined these relationships in adolescents. Perceptions of stressors as well as physiological reactivity to stress increase during adolescence, highlighting th...