Psychoneuroimmunology: A New Approach to Curing Diseases
When one thinks of disease and cures for it, people typically think medicine or other pharmacological interventions to prevent the disease from spreading or killing it entirely. People also tend to associate physical symptoms as being mainly in part due to the immune system and have little regard toward the neurological approaches to the disease. Now over the past decade, a new approach to diseases is surfacing and gaining more evidence as time goes on: psychoneuroimmunology. Psychoneuroimmunology is a new approach to diseases which involves taking control of the disease by controlling stress and lessening it. Diseases and illnesses untreatable by drugs or medicine could be treated by just understanding and influencing the psychology of the given individual. Psychology has an impact in grieving, cancer, HIV, and wound healings, making it possible for the patient to not suffer in pain but gradually heal over time or increase their outlook on life.
Robert Adler, father of psychoneuroimmunology, first discovered this when he was working on different experiments using Pavlonian conditioning where he involved rats. He found out the conditioning had both a psychological effect via avoidance as well as a neurological and biological effect, as the effects of the drug were shown through both the injected and non-injected rats. From this psychoneuroimmunology was born. As research progressed, more evidence was found, such as in 1981 in David Felten’s lab where he found a relationship between nerves and the cells of the immune system, showing that they actually contact each other directly, through the HPA Axis, which are the glands that secrete hormones in your blood. Ultimately, they are all determined by one’s stress levels.
There have been more studies proving psychoneuroimmunology’s effects on the conditions and immune system of the body. On August 2012, it was reported that Steve Cole, member of the Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, conducted a study where they ran a mindfulness-based stress reduction study, where patients were told to focus on now and not about the future or the past. This not only reduced lonely feelings, but also altered gene and protein markers of inflammation, which, if accumulated, could lead to the risk of heart disease, showing its overall effect on the immune system. Another study by the same group was also conducted which found that those with a meaningful or purposeful outlook on life had a better gene expression than those who were materialistically happy or those who were facing problems. While this is a study of much needed research, many advances are being made in this new and exciting field.
~ Albert Wang
Sources:
Psychoneuroimmunology: Laugh and Be Well
Meditation Reduces Loneliness and Expression of Inflammatory Genes
Immunology: The Pursuit of Happiness
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What is Psychoneuroimmunology?
