Does Stress Damage the Brain?: Understanding Trauma-Related Disorders from a Neurological Perspective [Hardcover]

J. Douglas Bremner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0393703452 | ISBN-13: 978-0393703450 | Edition: 1

Everyone who has ever experienced stress, or wondered about the effects of stress on their minds and bodies, will benefit from the insights in this clearly written and accessible book.

Why is it that we can remember exactly where we were when John Kennedy was shot, or when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded, or on September 11, 2001? Does what we see, hear, feel, and in other ways experience, especially during times of stress, result in permanent changes to our brains? Is this one of the reasons stressful events become seared in our memories? These provocative questions, and many others, are answered here by J. Douglas Bremner, a leading scientist whose discoveries, and that of his colleagues, showed that extreme stress may result in lasting damage to the brain, especially a part of the brain involved in memory.

Readers will join Bremner as he recounts the harrowing stories of people under stress-from WWI soldiers to Vietnam combat veterans to survivors of the September 11 terrorist attacks-and gathers evidence for his intriguing proposition that stress actually damages the brain. As this book will explain, scientists now believe that stress-related brain damage may cause certain psychological disorders, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). There are in fact a range psychological disorders related to stress, what we are now calling the 'trauma spectrum disorders,' that may be manifestations of stress-induced changes in the brain.

This new understanding of trauma-related problems as essentially neurological disorders has many important implications. What a difference it would make if someone who experiences anxiety or depression realized that they were not at fault for these experiences, but rather these experiences were the result of brain-based changes as a result of stress? In certain cases, thinking about the effects of stress on the brain may help understand puzzling phenomena, like delayed recall of childhood abuse.

The scope and breadth of traumatic stress today make this book especially relevant. Our country will be sorting out the many patterns of response to recent traumatic events for years to come. If knowledge is power, then all readers will benefit from a greater knowledge of the potential effects of traumatic stress on mind, brain, body, and spirit. With over ten years of experience in researching the effects of stress on people, Douglas Bremner is uniquely qualified to help us make sense of the ways in which we experience stress.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The answer to the title is yes, according to Bremner, the director of Emory University's Center for Positron Emission Tomography, an associate professor of psychiatry and radiology at Emory's school of medicine and the editor of two textbooks on trauma. In this general introduction to the psychology of post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, Bremner's central thesis is that various discrete diagnoses for trauma-related illnesses can be unified: "patients exposed to different types of trauma have more in common than they have differences." Bremner sees the damage of trauma as being inflicted chiefly to the hippocampus, the part of the brain that stores memory, and his book is most articulate on this subject. His lab work on dissociation in Vietnam veterans and studies of sexually abused women are grimly cogent. The tone is relaxed and avuncular, to the point where the book sometimes meanders, as when Bremner gives the history of radiation or a discourse on gun-control laws. There is also the occasional sentence that may flummox the lay reader: "Stress results in an inhibition of neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus... an effect mediated by the NMDA receptor...." Too specialized for a general audience, yet not well-organized enough for specialists, this book may not get the audience demanded by some of its insights.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The stress response, paradoxically, can both ensure our immediate survival and threaten long-term physical and mental well-being. These titles describe the mechanisms involved in responding to stress, but they take different tacks. Bremner (psychiatry and radiology, Emory Univ. Sch. of Medicine) focuses on traumatic stress-its effects on individuals and their ability to work and to relate to others. His premise is that "stress-induced brain damage underlies and is responsible for the development of a spectrum of trauma-related psychiatric disorders." Bremner offers a persuasive argument for revising the current diagnostic schema of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV (which currently classifies numerous trauma as distinct conditions) to provide for one single spectrum of disorders, including both acute and chronic posttraumatic stress disorder and related conditions. Like McEwen, Bremner details the biological mechanisms of the stress response, focusing especially on the changes that occur within the brain. The author also touches briefly on Freudian psychotherapy, the use of medical scanning devices, the nature vs. nurture argument, the validity of delayed recall, etc. Despite some occasional repetitive and awkward constructions in his text, Bremner offers an interesting and valuable perspective on the subject of traumatic stress. His book will particularly interest professionals. McEwen (head, Neuroendocrinology Laboratory, Rockefeller Univ.) uses the term allostasis to denote the stress response in which maximum energy is delivered to those parts of the body that will be critical for self-protection. Allostatic load, on the other hand, describes a system that turns against itself. McEwen discusses in detail the processes by which stress affects the cardiovascular and immune systems as well as the brain. The brain, according to McEwen, can be "the target as well as the initiator of the stress response." This system, however, need not inevitably threaten us. Lifestyle changes, including proper diet, exercise, rest, and the development of positive coping skills, can make an enormous difference in our ability to minimize the effects of chronic stress. McEwen's book is skillfully written and will appeal to a wide readership.
Laurie Bartolini, Illinois State Lib., Springfield
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 328 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (June 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393703452
• ISBN-13: 978-0393703450
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,297,432 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

J Douglas Bremner is a Professor of Psychiatry and Radiology in Atlanta, GA. He is a researcher, physician, and writer. He blogs on healthcare and medication related topics and twitters @dougbremner.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Validation: Making Sense of the Senseless, March 12, 2003

By 

Monika R Smith, PhD MSW (Reedville, Virginia United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Does Stress Damage the Brain?: Understanding Trauma-Related Disorders from a Neurological Perspective (Hardcover)

THIS IS A "MUST READ". Any one who has suffered a loss, experienced grief, been violated or exposed to violence of self or other will derive comfort, knowledge and a logical explanation for why actions, feelings, thoughts, and ideas occur subsequent to such exposure. With the events of 9/11, that includes every American and much of the world's population who if not directly there in person, will have the images the media replayed time and again burned into their conscious and unconscious minds forever. It furthermore includes victims of childhood abuse no less than combat veterans, hurricane or other natural disaster survivors along with those from any terror, war and conflict.
The answer is that scientifically demonstrated brain changes and hormonal actions do govern behaviours, feelings and actions: NO, you're not crazy for seeing or perceiving things as you do.
The changes are real. You're OK. You're part of a world that isn't as OK or safe as you'd like it to be.

Dr. Bremner puts all of it together in a delightfully readable form sprinkled with annecdotes, metaphors and analogies. He presents serious subject matter and profound insights in a style as fascinating and captivating as science fiction. I bought it for professional purposes and then read it non-stop for pleasure.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars provocative title/serious book, October 3, 2002

By 

Michat Duncan (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Does Stress Damage the Brain?: Understanding Trauma-Related Disorders from a Neurological Perspective (Hardcover)

I picked this book up in the bookstore because of the title
and once I read the first few pages in the store I was
really hooked. The author tells a couple of different stories
in the book and I can see why one of the reviews talked
about some parts of the book that are somewhat complicated.
The brain stuff about stress is very fascinating, and most
of it is easy to understand (I don't have any more than
a high school background in science.) There were a few difficult
parts but skipping over these did not detract from the fascinating story that the author tells about how people
experience stress, what events like September 11 can do
to people, and what the future holds in terms of understanding
how to deal with stress and treat it. The author includes
in the book an excerpt from his family history detailing
some very traumatic events and I wish that he had written
more about that. Still, a short but provocative book that helps
to put many issues regarding trauma into a perspective
that is new.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars quality reading about PTSD, June 5, 2007

By 

Mark "Mark" (SEATTLE, WA, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Does Stress Damage the Brain?: Understanding Trauma-Related Disorders from a Mind-Body Perspective (Paperback)

I just presented a couple of Power Point presentations in two University classes on PTSD. Though I didn't reference his journal production or his books, I find that reading this book pulled many things together after doing the above. He is at Emory now, going there from Yale.

The hardback could have used some editing. He repeats himself almost verbatim many times, which might help somebody who just picks into stray chapters.

Anyway, you might want to check out a PPT he presented March 2007.

http://braininstitute.vanderbilt.edu/Vanderbilt_March07_BremnerLecture.ppt

He frequently studies how trauma affects brain structures.