The Psychobiology of Bereavement and Health: A Conceptual Review From the Perspective of Social Signal Transduction Theory of Depression

Abstract

Losing a spouse is considered one of the most stressful life events a person can experience. Particularly in the immediate weeks and months after the loss, bereavement is associated with a significantly increased risk of morbidity and mortality. Despite an abundance of research aimed at identifying risk factors for adverse health outcomes following marital death, the mechanisms through which mental and physical health problems emerge following bereavement remain poorly understood. To address this issue, the present review examines several pathways that may link bereavement and health, including inflammation and immune dysregulation, genetic and epigenetic changes, gut microbiota activity, and biological aging. We then describe how these processes may be viewed from the perspective of the Social Signal Transduction Theory of Depression to provide a novel framework for understanding individual differences in long-term trajectories of adjustment to interpersonal loss. Finally, we discuss several avenues for future research on psychobiological mechanisms linking bereavement with mental and physical health outcomes.

Psychobiology of Stress and Adolescent Depression (PSY SAD) Study: Protocol overview for an fMRI-based multi-method investigation

“…The organizing framework for this study comes from the Social Signal Transduction Theory of Depression ( Slavich and Irwin, 2014 ; Slavich and Sacher, 2019 ; see also Quinn et al, 2020 ; Seiler et al, 2020 ; Slavich et al, 2020 ). Briefly, this formulation describes how experiences of social stress and rejection get represented by the brain, and how the brain in turn governs physiologic, molecular, and genomic changes that can promote depressive symptoms, especially for persons at risk for MDD.…”

Generalized Anxiety and Major Depressive Symptoms of General Public in South Korea during the Early COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Different factors influenced our study results are following. Our study design of excluding the individuals with previous mental disorders, serious medical illnesses or in bereavement due to loss of a family [16,17] for all of which are associated with heighted stress responses influenced the result positively. For decreased mental health services and unclear access to therapies and medications during the COVID-19 crisis, accurate analysis of the individuals with mental illnesses could not be done.…”

Beyond WEIRD: Associations between socioeconomic status, gender, lifetime stress exposure, and depression in Madagascar

“…Finally, a growing body of research shows that stressors differ in terms of their social-psychological characteristics, with these differences having implications for whether individuals develop depression (Slavich et al, 2010). The most common distinction involves whether stressors include interpersonal adversity, with stressors involving such adversity (e.g., marital conflict, social rejection, poor parent-child interactions) being more strongly associated with depression (Feurer et al, 2017;Seiler et al, 2020;Sheets & Craighead, 2014;Slavich et al, 2009;Slavich et al, 2020;Vrshek-Schallhorn et al, 2015). Despite the fact that stressors differ along these dimensions, few studies have investigated associations between these different stressor types and depressive symptoms.…”