In the last thirty years, scientists have begun to explore the complex interconnections between mind and body. Dr. Gordon states that psychological, sociological, and anthropological studies have confirmed what was clinically obvious-that people who are beset with poverty, job dissatisfaction, prejudice, cultural dislocation, long-term loneliness, or the sudden loss of a loved one are far more vulnerable to illness and death than those who are fulfilled in their social and interpersonal world.

  Mood, attitude, and belief can affect virtually every chronic illness: fear, cynicism, as well as a sense of hopelessness and helplessness, can have a detrimental effect on health; whereas courage, good humor, a sense of control, and hopefulness can all be beneficial. Optimistic people are less likely to become ill and, when they do become ill, tend to live longer and suffer less. Studies at Yale and Rutgers Universities by Ellen Idler, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology at Rutgers, and Stanislav Kasl Ph.D., Professor of Epidemiology at Yale, indicate that the opinion of one's health status-how well one thinks one is-may be the best predictor of well-being and future health.

  The scientific underpinnings for these clinical studies and anecdotal reports may be found in the new and rapidly expanding field of psychoneuroimmunology (PNI). The fruits of this approach are already being harvested in comprehensive programs of mind/body medicine at Harvard University, the University of Massachusetts, Stanford University, the University of Miami, and the University of California at San Francisco. Here people with such life-threatening and debilitating illnesses as cancer, AIDS, coronary heart disease, and chronic pain are learning to change their habits and attitude, what they eat, when they exercise, and how they think. A number of landmark studies have shown that these men and women are functioning far more effectively, feeling better, and in some particularly striking instances, living longer.

 

  In the 1970s, great advances in the study of the immune system helped to clarify the relationship between body and mind, which gave rise to the field of psychoneuroimmunology. Researchers found that naturally occurring substances known as peptides or neuropeptides (messenger molecules made up of amino acids), could cause alterations of mood, pain, and pleasure. Among the first of these substances identified were endorphins, which is shorthand for endogenous morphines, meaning "the brain's own morphine." When endorphins are released they produce pleasurable responses, similar to those associated with opiates.

  Visiting Professor at the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University, and former Chief of the Section on Brain Biochemistry of the Clinical Neuroscience Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health, Candace Pert, Ph.D., says, they have come to theorize that these neuropeptides and their receptors are the biochemical correlates of emotions. It took them fifteen years of research before they dared make that connection, but they know that these neuropeptides are released during different emotional states.

  But the astounding revelation is that these endorphins and other chemicals like them are found not just in the brain, but in the immune system, the endocrine system, and throughout the body. When people discovered that there were endorphins in the brain that caused euphoria and pain relief, everyone could handle that. However, when they discovered they were in the immune system, as well, it just didn't fit, so these findings were denied for years. The original scientists had to repeat their studies many, many times to be believed.

  Emotions, previously thought to be purely psychological, could now be linked to specific chemical processes taking place throughout the body, not just in the brain. Likewise, these peptides were seen to affect the functioning of all the systems of the body, including the immune system. Dr. Pert explains that viruses use the same receptors as a neuropeptide to enter into a cell, and depending on how much of the natural peptide for that receptor is around, the virus will have an easier or harder time getting into the cell. So our emotional state will affect whether we'll get sick from the same loading dose of a virus.

  Statistics have always borne out this relationship between the emotional state of an individual and his or her health, adds Dr. Pert. You know the data about how people have more heart attacks on Monday mornings, and how death peaks in Christians the day after Christmas and in Chinese people the day after the Chinese New Year, but now science has been able to confirm that emotional fluctuations and emotional status directly influence the probability that the human organism will get sick or be well.

  Researchers also discovered that the immune system, like the central nervous system, has a memory and the capacity to learn. Thus, it could be said that intelligence is located in almost every cell of the body, and that the traditional separation of mind and body no longer applies.

  Robert Ader, Ph.D, Director of the Division of Behavior and Psychosocial Medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine in New York, who was the father of psycho-neuroimmunology, conducted several studies that confirmed this belief. In one study, rats were given an immune-suppressing drug flavored with saccharin. Eventually, they were conditioned to suppress their immune systems in response to the taste of saccharin alone. Another study showed that their immune systems could be similarly enhanced through conditioning. Since the immune systems of the rats are comparable to those of human beings, Dr. Adler suggests that people can learn to influence the balance that maintains health in relation to the outside world.

  Joan Borysenko, Ph.D., states, conditioning is a powerful bridge between mind and body, for the body cannot tell the difference between events that are actual threats to survival and events that are present in thought alone.

  This work has vast implications for human learning for they strongly suggest that internal and external stimuli (memories, thoughts, emotions, body movements, sounds, smells, tastes, situations, settings) can affect a variety of previously conditioned immune responses.

  Biofeedback research, has shown that individuals can learn to control brainwave activity, affect cardiovascular and respiratory functioning, reduce skin temperature, and voluntarily modify many other autonomic processes of the body. John Basmajian, M.D., Professor Emeritus, Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Canada, was a pioneer in biofeedback research. He demonstrated that people could learn to consciously control individual neurons and muscle cells. Single cell control through consciousness offers the possibility that one can affect any part of one's body, knowing how this process works.

  Many other studies have shown that consciousness can be used to relieve tension headaches, hypertension, urinary and fecal incontinence, temporomandibular joint syndrome, involuntary muscle spasms, muscle paralysis caused by cerebrovascular accidents, and dyskinesia. Consciousness can also be directed toward lowering blood pressure, reducing certain malfunctions of the heart, and modifying gastrointestinal secretions that cause ulcers, stomach acidity, and irritable bowel syndrome.

  Pioneering researchers Elmer Green, Ph.D., and Alyce Green, founders of the Voluntary Controls Program at the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas say, this extension of conscious control over involuntary systems has far-reaching implications for psychology and medicine. It suggests that human beings are not biological robots, controlled entirely by genes and the conditioning of life experiences.

  Steven Fahrion, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Applied Psychophysiology at the Menninger Clinic, recalls one patient, a forty-three-year-old middle management executive, who came to him for treatment of hypertension and elevated blood pressure. Dr. Fahrion noted that the man talked rapidly, was overscheduled, and felt he never had enough time. The patient was given biofeedback exercises so that he could learn to relax by consciously controlling the temperature of his hands and feet. He also learned to meditate and use visualization techniques in order to slow down his racing mind. As the man was able to sit quietly, he also began to have insights into his feelings and the way he managed his life, which he discussed with Dr. Fahrion. After three and a half months, the man's blood pressure had returned to normal.

 

  Virtually everyone has experienced the "fight or flight" response to some degree in his or her life. This response is the body's natural, unconscious reaction to threats, either real or imagined. It is often characterized by an adrenalin rush, dilated pupils, and a racing heart, all conditions that better equip the body to deal with whatever danger is perceived, be it from an animal, another person, a vehicle, or an imaginary threat, such as a noise in the middle of the night or a bad dream. The body's physiological processes adapt to their emotional reaction to danger. 

  In one study done immediately after the 1987 Los Angeles earthquake, blood was taken from nineteen people two to four hours after the trembler, and then again several times over the next year. The study has found an increase in killer cells (such as antibodies) in the bloodstream just after the earthquake. The distress the individuals were experiencing, coupled with the fear that the "big one" might be coming next, correlated directly with the increase in killer cells.

  While the alarm response mobilizes the body's ability to fight or get away from a threat, the immune system activation may be seen as the body preparing itself to deal with the results of such a response, i.e., cuts and bruises sustained while fleeing, or any injuries from a hostile encounter.

  This response is healthy and normal in situations of extreme stress or danger. However, when fight or flight manifests itself too often as a reaction to everyday stresses, the cumulative result can strain the various systems of the body, including the immune system. The body can become conditioned to react in this way, sometimes with little or no impetus, particularly among people who tend to internalize their emotions. This suggests a link between the body's emotional state and its overall health. Relaxation and the "venting" of pent-up emotions, negative or otherwise, have shown positive results counteracting this overactive fight or flight response.