Social Stress Model

(A) A conflict provokes a neuroendocrine, metabolic, and inflammatory response. (B) Psychosocial factors that temporally proceed the conflict (e.g., early life adversity) track with: 1. the intensity and duration of the physiological stress response; and 2. psychological sensitivity to the physiological response. Frequent, repetitive, or chronic conflict or exclusion (i.e, social isolation or perceived isolation/loneliness), as well as concomitant problematic health behaviors, can dysregulate resting physiology, leading to decreased gut microbiota diversity, chronic systemic inflammation, and increased central adiposity. (C) These physiological changes create an environment conducive for the development of depression and comorbid physical disease.