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Nature Neuroscience 12, 241–243 (1 March 2009) | doi:10.1038/nn0309-241

How adversity gets under the skin

Steven E Hyman

The ancient question of how early life experience influences adult behavior has produced many answers and even whole intellectual movements, such as psychoanalysis. The stakes are high, not only for human self-understanding, but also for the development of more effective interventions for treating and perhaps even preventing neuropsychiatric disorders that produce a substantial burden of suffering and disability.