Hi crest-ga,
Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) has actually evolved from several
theoretical models over time to become a scientific area of study.
The article from the Journey of Hearts website is very thorough and
definitely worth reading carefully to understand the history behind
this field (I have capitalized important terms):
"Since the times of the Greeks conventional medicine has traditionally
utilized the BIOMEDICAL model. This model focuses on dualism involving
the mind and the body interactions. The biomedical model treats
disease as a pathology that occurs within the person. The doctor's
function is to control the pathology, repair the body and restore
health. The limitation of this model is that it excludes any
psychological, social or ecological factors.
In contrast, the HUMANISTIC model utilizes a PLEURALISTIC approach
considering interactions and the interconnectedness between the MIND,
the BODY and the SPIRIT when treating "dis-ease" within a person. The
health or well-being of the body can no longer ignore the impact of
the mind, the emotions or the spirit on the process.
This pleuralistic model, considering mind-body-spirit is being
scientifically supported in the relatively new field of
study—Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI). New scientific research in this
relatively young field has demonstrated that the mind can and does
play a significant role in the disease and healing processes.
The field of Psychoneuroimmunology explores how the mind can and does
impact the body in a multitude of systems—the immune system, the
endocrine system, the nervous system, and the cardiovascular system.
Sometimes the impact is positive e.g. when the immune system is
enhanced to combat diseases, other times the impact is negative e.g.
when heart disease (and the immune system) is significantly negatively
impacted by the effects of stress. Regardless of the impact, with the
current research in this field demonstrating otherwise, we can no
longer ignore the impact of the mind, the emotions or the spirit on
the health or well-being of the body or on the disease and healing
processes."
The same source also gives an excellent definition for the term:
"The term Psychoneuroimmunology can be defined by it's component
parts:
Psyche - the mind component or study of psychology, the cognitive and
emotional processes involving mood states.
Neuro - the neurologic connections e.g. neurotransmitters and
neuroendocrine secretions, or study of neurology
Immunology how the immune system e.g. the cellular and humoral
components is impacted, or the study of immunology."
"The best working definition is the one below:
An interdisciplinary science that studies the interrelationships
between psychological, behavioral, neuroendocrine processes and
immunology."
http://www.journeyofhearts.org/jofh/transition/pni
It is worth noting that psychoneuroimmunology is quite a new medical
field and thus has very little formal definition and there is much
uncertainty around the field and the model upon which it is based:
"The emerging field of psychoneuroimmunology holds great promise in
many ways. I t has the potential to integrate the systems of the body
into a unified view of how the body works and interacts with itself
and its environment. PNI is the study of how all these mechanisms and
bodily functions interact to produce states of health and d isease.
There is, however, no formal consensus on the actual definition of
what constitutes PNI or its research."
http://raptor.slc.edu/~synapse/papers/pni.html
The above article also has a fairly technical description of the
systems involved in PNI, and may be worth checking out.
If you have any problems understanding the information above, please
feel free to post a clarification and I will respond in a timely
manner.
Cheers!
answerguru-ga |
Clarification of Answer by
answerguru-ga
on
11 Sep 2002 09:08 PDT
Hi again,
There actually is not as much information on this topic as one would
like, but I'm glad you are happy with the answer. I found no record of
a Robert Ader being credited with the naming of the field, so I cannot
confirm or refute that fact.
As far as a graphical depiction, I didn't come across any, but based
on the literature, it seems like it would be a triangular figure with
psychology, neorology, and immunology being the "nodes" at each corner
of the triangle.
Thanks for using Google Answers :)
answerguru-ga
|
