Brain activity and trauma

Leonard (2010) explains that the brain is directly affected by cytokines, chemokines, prostenoids and immune cells, contrary to what some researchers believed until few years ago. Chronic stress causes changes in ‘hypothalamic- pituitary- adrenal axis and in the immune system. Research and past evidence reveals that pro inflammatory cytokines and glucocorticoids are in high concentrations during chronic stress that can lead to depression. When body is attacked by bacteria or virus, cells of the immune system react by secreting proteins called cytokines (National Institute of Health, NIH) and this causes among other signs fatigue and withdrawl. Research has shown that when cancer or hepatitis B patients are treated with cytokines they show signs of depression.

Dowdney (2000) reports that psychological effects of the death of a parent can be heterogeneous. However, statistics show that at least 1 out of 4 children develop some sort of mental disorder in the year after the trauma. As adults, the trauma of loss of parent can cause issues with ego building, forming health relationships and is dependent on the recovery of the whole family after the trauma (Hilgard et al. 1960). Research has shown that traumas like loss of a parent can influence mental as well as physiological health of people as adults, with major affect noted on social behavior (Turner & Lloyd, 1995). Acute stress and chronic stress have shown to affect immune system is varying ways, with chronic stress causing suppression of immune system through the physiological reactions, according to O'Leary, 1990).

References

Dowdney, L. (2000). Annotation: Childhood bereavement following parental death. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 41(07), 819-830.

Hilgard, J. R., Newman, M. F., & Fisk, F. (1960). Strength of adult ego following childhood bereavement. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 30(4), 788.

Leonard, B. E. (2010). The concept of depression as a dysfunction of the immune system. Current Immunology Reviews, 6(3), 205–212. 

National Institute of Mental Health. (2009). Key molecule in inflammation-related depression confirmed. Retrieved from http://www.nimh.nih.gov/news/science-news/2009/key-molecule-in-inflammation-related-depression-confirmed.shtml

O'Leary, A. (1990). Stress, emotion, and human immune function.Psychological bulletin, 108(3), 363.

Turner, R. J., & Lloyd, D. A. (1995). Lifetime traumas and mental health: The significance of cumulative adversity. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 360-376.