What Is Early Life Stress?
Stress, the disruption of the homeostatic balance by internal or external influences, is inherent, inevitable and exists in every stages of life, starting as early as the fetal stage till one’s death. In particular, early life stress (ELS) has come to light in recent years as it is becoming more prevalent and epidemiological studies have shown that ELS increases one’s vulnerability to subsequent stressors, leading to a multitude of stress-related neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adulthood. This is not surprising as the exposure to ELS corresponds to the maturation period of several brain structures, including amygdala and hippocampus. Consequently, this interference with post-natal neuronal