PSYC23H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Adrenal Gland, Cortisol, Stress Management
Document Summary
Week 3a: excessive stress disrupts the architecture of the developing brain. The result is the development of healthy stress response systems. Stressful events can also be tolerable, or even beneficial, depending on how much of a bodily stress response they provoke and how long the response lasts. This kind of stress is a normal part of life, and learning to adjust to it is an essential feature of healthy development. This is an important part of the normal developmental process. Tolerable stress refers to stress responses that have the potential to negatively affect the architecture of the developing brain but generally occur over limited time periods that allow for the brain to recover and thereby reverse potentially harmful effects. Indeed, the presence of supportive adults who create safe environments that help children learn to cope with and recover from major adverse experiences is one of the critical ingredients that make serious stressful events such as these tolerable.
