This book is the first to investigate sex-specific associations between cortisol increase and neural stress processing in individuals with burnout symptoms. How do women and men with burnout symptoms respond differently to stress? Using functional MRI and the ScanSTRESS paradigm, differences in brain activity and functional connectivity of the amygdala and hippocampus were analyzed. Men showed higher cortisol levels and a positive correlation between cortisol increase and hippocampal activity, whereas in women, this correlation was negative. The results suggest distinct stress processing mechanisms in women and men, even within the same brain structures. The study provides important insights for individualized burnout research, emphasizing the relevance of biological sex differences.

Tabea Krause works as a psychologist and neuroscientist at Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin. Her research focuses on human stress processing, particularly in relation to sex differences and the link between endocrine and neural measures.