Early stress linked to adult mental health disorders

New research suggests stress‑related physiological changes in adolescence may lay the groundwork for serious mental health problems in adulthood and opens the door for nipping them in the bud.

Professor Zoltan Sarnyai from James Cook University’s Margaret Roderick Centre for Mental Health Research co-authored the study.

He said childhood and adolescence are sensitive periods of brain development, during which the body and brain are subject to a range of influences.

“Many of these are adverse, including both psychosocial maltreatments, such as abuse and neglect and family-related difficulties and biological factors like poor nutrition, pollution and toxins,” said Professor Sarnyai.

“Early adversity is particularly impactful on healthy brain development during sensitive periods, such as the period between the ages of 5 and 12, 12 and 18 and into early adulthood.”

The scientists used one of Britain’s largest population databases involving more than 14,000 children. They examined how chronic stress and metabolic dysfunction at age 17 influenced psychiatric outcomes seven years later.

Professor Sarnyai said the scientists used the concept of allostatic load (AL) - the long‑term physiological burden that arises when stress responses are triggered too frequently or for too long.

“It manifests in high blood pressure, high cholesterol, insulin resistance, and abnormal cortisol rhythms. We found it’s a powerful predictor of mood and psychotic disorders in young adults,” said Professor Sarnyai.

The study revealed that teenagers with elevated AL were significantly more likely to develop mood disorder symptoms, psychotic disorder symptoms, or both, by age 24.

Insulin resistance, when the body stops responding properly to its naturally produced insulin, emerged as a critical factor. Insulin is the key hormone to help glucose, the main energy source for all the cells in the body, to be properly used by the body.

“Adolescents suffering from insulin resistance were disproportionately represented in all three disorder groups compared to healthy controls. With the strongest link seen in those who later developed psychotic symptoms,” said PhD student Sabine Finlay, the lead author of the publication.

She said the findings underscore adolescence as a vulnerable window for brain and body health.

“Multisystem dysregulation in late adolescence comes before the onset of mood and psychotic symptoms in early adulthood. AL and metabolic markers could serve as early warning indicators of psychiatric vulnerability,” said Professor Sarnyai.

He said the implications are far‑reaching.

“We now have the opportunity to identify at‑risk teens through biological markers and use preventive interventions aimed at reducing stress and improve metabolic health before psychiatric disorders take hold,” said Professor Sarnyai.

Link to paper here.