NEW APPROACHES TO NEUROCHEMISTRY

Jonas Bergquist, Jerzy Silberring, and Rolf Ekman 

Why bother with all the neurobiology of the human brain, when trying to understand stress Because the old dogma that our brain remains a stable, unchanging, hardwired black box has to be revised. 

The central nervous system, and the brain in particular, is the prime candidate for both being the sensor and normally the major controller of the response to physiological and psychological stimuli. However, under pathological circumstances, such as the influence of sustained stressful, unhealthy psychosocial environments and different damaging lifestyles such as those observed in unhealthy societies, the brain is altered 

Mass Spectrometry. Edited by Ekman, Silberring, Westman-Brinkmalm, and Kraj Copyright 2009 John Wiley Sons, Inc. 

Maybe our ambitions to gain health in general and mental health in particular have failed because we have not realized the importance of the problems that result as the psychosocial stress and our escalating feelings of discontent and annoyance carry an increasing risk to the health of our modem societies. To maintain our goals of physical and mental health throughout life, stress at these levels must be understood and treated. 

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