Fig. 5

Each mitochondrion is a sensory-motor analyzer-effector that responds to sensory stimuli contextualized by psychosocial factors and other stressors that in turn engender a variety of mediators, which will differentially affect mitochondrial functioning. If stress is toxic to the organism’s attachments in the setting of a handicapped resilience state, mito-allostatic overload may ensue leading to a vulnerability to accelerated biological aging and NCD and viral pathophysiology. From: Picard and McEwen, 2018, p. 30, [85]. "Reprinted from Psychosomatic Medicine, Feb/Mar; 80(2). Picard M, McEwen BS. Psychological Stress and Mitochondria: A Conceptual Framework. P. 30, 2018, with permission from the author via STM Guidelines