ckm_a’s Reviews > Neuroticism: A New Framework for Emotional Disorders and Their Treatment > Status Update

"Instillation of a sense of mastery or control during development seems to protect against the likelihood of a lifetime of easily triggered negative emo- tions. The development of coping responses that imply a sense of control (whether real or apparent) buffers negative emotionality as well (Coplan et al., 1996; Suomi, 1986)."

Reactive young animals that were raised by calm mothers for the first 6 months of their lives were able to overcome their biological propensity to respond emotionally...On the other hand, infants with the same biological vulnerability raised by emotional and stress-reactive mothers retained their emotionality, perhaps because they developed a synergistic psychological vulnerability accompanying their genetic loading.

“Thus it seems that Sapolsky’s subordinate baboons are caught in a perpetual state of scanning for danger, probably as a function of perceived lack of control over their condition, resulting in chronic arousal and reduced reactivity (autonomic restriction) to actual stressors.”

“In early studies, investigators examined levels of cortisol in these animals as a function of their social rank and discovered that dominant males have lower resting levels of cortisol than subordinate males. However, when some “emergency” occurs, levels of cortisol rise more quickly in the dominant males than in their subordinate counterparts.”

“When produced chronically, cortisol can have damaging effects on a variety of physiological systems, ultimately causing damage to the hippocampus and the immune system. This damage to the hippocampus after a period of chronic stress may then lead to reduced negative feedback sensitivity, to chronic secretion of stress hormones, and ultimately to physical disease and death.”

“When taken together, these studies demonstrate the negative influence of experiences with uncontrollability in the early environment. In addition, whereas experimental neurosis paradigms suggest the importance of control over aversive stimuli, this evidence suggests that control over appetitive stimuli may be equally important in the development of mastery and competence in response to stressful situations.”

“On the contrary, aversive events of substantial intensity or duration will be better tolerated (with marked individual differences) if they occur predictably and if the organism at least perceives that some control over these events is possible.”

“In an important early review, Mineka and Kihlstrom (1978) suggested that, across these studies with different meth- odologies, the cause of ongoing negative emotions in these animals was that “environmental events of vital importance to the organism [became] unpre- dictable, uncontrollable, or both” (p. 257).”

"Our own view and those of others suggest that it is the combination of heightened physiological reactivity with a psychological perception of the unpredictabil- ity or uncontrollability of the stressor that leads to the development of nega- tive emotionality or neuroticism (e.g., Barlow, 2002; Koolhaas et al., 2011; Shackman et al., 2016)."

"Importantly, the hyperexcitability of neural circuits in response to stress and fear seen in neuroticism results not only from genetic factors or biological predispositions but also from stressful or traumatic experiences during critical stages of development. That is, early adversity contributes to the stress response that forms the basis of the neurotic phenotype."