In an exciting new article in Slate.com, top researchers discuss the various negative impacts of stress during childhood. Among many points the authors make, stress consists not only of severe physical and sexual abuse, but even negative interaction patterns where parent’s yell at or criticize their children can cause harm. The burgeoning field of connecting environmental stressors (like verbal abuse) with physical problems (e.g., lowered immune response) is an exciting and important new area of study. Studies like the recent PNAS article by researchers at UCLA on the response to social rejection indicate how important the mind-body connection really is.