Psychophysiological responses to psychological stress exposure and neural correlates in adults with mental disorders: a scoping review

Julija Gecaite-Stonciene; Maria G Rossetti; Paolo Brambilla; Brian M Hughes; Narseta Mickuviene; Marcella Bellani

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1191007

Psychophysiological responses to psychological stress exposure and neural correlates in adults with mental disorders: a scoping review

Front Psychiatry. 2023 Jul 26:14:1191007. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1191007. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Julija Gecaite-Stonciene¹, Maria G Rossetti^{2

3}, Paolo Brambilla^{3

4}, Brian M Hughes⁵, Narseta Mickuviene¹, Marcella Bellani²

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Behavioral Medicine, Neuroscience Institute, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Palanga, Lithuania.
² Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, Section of Psychiatry, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
³ Department of Neurosciences and Mental Health, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy.
⁴ Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
⁵ School of Psychology, University of Galway, Galway, Ireland.

Abstract

Introduction: The dysregulation of psychophysiological responses to mental stressors is a common issue addressed in individuals with psychiatric conditions, while brain circuit abnormalities are often associated with psychiatric conditions and their manifestations. However, to our knowledge, there is no systematic overview that would comprehensively synthesize the literature on psychophysiological responses during laboratory-induced psychosocial stressor and neural correlates in people with mental disorders. Thus, we aimed to systematically review the existing research on psychophysiological response during laboratory-induced stress and its relationship with neural correlates as measured by magnetic resonance imaging techniques in mental disorders.

Methods: The systematic search was performed on PubMed/Medline, EBSCOhost/PsycArticles, Web of Science, and The Cochrane Library databases during November 2021 following the PRISMA guidelines. Risk of bias was evaluated by employing the checklists for cross-sectional and case-control studies from Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Reviewers Manual.

Results: Out of 353 de-duplicated publications identified, six studies were included in this review. These studies were identified as representing two research themes: (1) brain anatomy and psychophysiological response to mental stress in individuals with mental disorders, and (2) brain activity and psychophysiological response to mental stress in individuals with mental disorders.

Conclusions: Overall, the evidence from studies exploring the interplay between stress psychophysiology and neural correlates in mental disorders is limited and heterogeneous. Further studies are warranted to better understand the mechanisms of how psychophysiological stress markers interplay with neural correlates in manifestation and progression of psychiatric illnesses.

Keywords: MRI; brain imaging; mental disorders; psychiatry; psychophysiology; review; scoping review; stress.

Publication types

Systematic Review

Grants and funding

This paper was prepared within the context of JG-S research internship granted by University of Milan program Young Investigator Training Program. PB was partially supported by the Italian Ministry of Health (Ricerca Corrente 2023).