The stressed brain - discovering the neural pathways to risk and resilience

Werff, S.J.A. van der (2017)

Doctoral Thesis

The human body is inherently designed to be able to adapt to challenging situations.
However, some experiences are so severe that they can lead to substantial and longerlasting
disturbances in an individuals’ behavioral, psychological and physiological
functioning. Importantly, there is a degree of inter-individual variation, as not all
individuals show similar reactions to severe stress. Neuroimaging techniques can
help to unravel the brain characteristics related to vulnerability and resilience to
severe stress.
In the research for this dissertation several neuroimaging modalities were used
to further explore the brain characteristics related to (dys)function after exposure
to severe stress and after exposure to hypercortisolism, such as voxel-based
morphometry and diffusion tensor imaging to study the structure of gray and
white matter in the brain, and resting-state fMRI to study functional connectivity
patterns. We studied brain characteristics in several groups consisting of: patients in
long-term remission of Cushing’s disease, and individuals with a history
of childhood emotional maltreatment to examine the effects of hypercortisolism
and severe stress on the brain. In addition, we studied a group of police officers and
a group of individuals with a history of childhood maltreatment to investigate the
brain characteristics related to resilience to stress.

• Resilience
• Stress
• Hypercortisolism
• Magnetic resonance imaging
• Cushing's disease
• Neuroimaging

• All authors: Werff, S.J.A. van der
• Supervisor: Wee, N.J.A. van der; Elzinga, B.M.
• Committee: Vermetten, H.J.G.M.; Roelofs, K.; Geuze, S.G.
• Qualification: Doctor (dr.)
• Awarding Institution: Medicine/ Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), Leiden University
• Date: 2017-01-10
• ISBN (print): 9789463321099
• Sponsorship: Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research–National Initiative Brain and Cognition project (NWO-NIHC, project no. 056-25-010)