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The Biology of Stress

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Behavioral Medicine

Abstract

This chapter introduces the basic pillars of behavioral medicine. We begin with the effectors of the stress response and then focus on brain and vagal neuromodulation of stress. We then learn the basics of neuroimmunology – interactions between the nervous and immune systems. The topics of the effects of stress on immunity and on DNA damage are then reviewed by multiple empirical examples. This chapter represents the “hardware” of behavioral medicine and sets the knowledge basis for the psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) reviewed in each subsequent clinical chapter. This chapter is complex for the reader without biological background. However, it attempts to explain these issues clearly and it is essential for understanding in depth the clinical chapters.

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  1. SCALab, University of Lille, Lille, France

    Yori Gidron

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Gidron, Y. (2019). The Biology of Stress. In: Behavioral Medicine. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18893-1_2

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