Effects of stressful life events on human brain structure: a longitudinal voxel-based morphometry study.

Although stressful life events (SLEs) have been associated with an increased risk of illness and mental disorder, their impact on brain anatomy remains poorly understood. Using a longitudinal design, we tested the hypothesis that SLEs are significantly associated with changes in gray matter volume (GMV) in brain regions previously implicated in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a group of clinically healthy adults. Magnetic resonance imaging was used to acquire an anatomical scan from 26 subjects (13 males and 13 females; mean age ± SD: 25.

Attachment style, affective loss and gray matter volume: a voxel-based morphometry study.

Early patterns of infant attachment have been shown to be an important influence on adult social behavior. Animal studies suggest that patterns of early attachment influence brain development, contributing to permanent alterations in neural structure; however, there are no previous studies investigating whether differences in attachment style are associated with differences in brain structure in humans. In this study, we used Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to examine for the first time the association between attachment style, affective loss (for example, death of a loved one) and gray matter volume in a healthy sample of adults (n = 32).