Division of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Laboratory for Biological and Personality Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany Freiburg Brain Imaging Center, University Medical Center, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
Restor Neurol Neurosci. 2014;32(1):149-62. doi: 10.3233/RNN-139008.
Social integration and social support have a substantial influence on individual health and longevity, an effect assumed to be mediated through reduced stress reactivity in support recipients. However, considerable variability in individual responses to social support has been documented, suggesting that the beneficial effect of social support interacts with early experiences, genetically influenced differences in biological systems mediating social behavior, personality traits, and psychopathology. Here we outline the historical background of social support research, including epidemiological studies, laboratory studies, and field studies on the subject of social support and health, with regard to different psychobiological effector systems. Most recent research has focused on brain mechanisms which link social integration or social support with reduced neural threat responses. As numerous mental disorders are associated with considerable social impairment, understanding the potentially underlying mechanisms of neural plasticity in relation to social support, stress buffering and health in these disorders can help tailor new diagnostic and treatment strategies. Thus, theories of socially-driven emotional learning and memory, as presented in this review, might eventually lead to psychobiology-based treatment concepts for mental disorders involving social deficits.
社会融合和社会支持对个体的健康和长寿有重大影响，这种影响被认为是通过减轻支持接受者的应激反应来实现的。然而，大量的个体对社会支持的反应存在差异，这表明社会支持的有益效果与早期经历、遗传影响的生物系统差异、介导社会行为、个性特征和精神病理学有关。在这里，我们概述了社会支持研究的历史背景，包括有关社会支持与健康的流行病学研究、实验室研究和现场研究，涉及不同的心理生物学效应系统。最近的研究集中在将社会融合或社会支持与减少神经威胁反应联系起来的大脑机制上。由于许多精神障碍都与严重的社交障碍有关，因此了解与社会支持、压力缓冲和这些障碍下的健康相关的神经可塑性的潜在潜在机制，可以帮助制定针对涉及社交缺陷的精神障碍的新的诊断和治疗策略。因此，正如本综述中所提出的，关于社会驱动的情绪学习和记忆的理论，最终可能会为涉及社交缺陷的精神障碍提供基于心理生物学的治疗概念。
