How the mind hurts and heals the body

The author reviews some of the social and behavioral factors acting on the brain that influence health, illness, and death. Supported with data from several areas of research, his proposal for understanding health and illness provides both the concepts and the mechanisms for study-ing and explaining mind–body relationships. The brain is the body’s first line of defense against illness, and the mind is the emergent functioning of the brain. This mind–body approach incorporates ideas, belief systems, and hopes as well as biochemistry, physiology, and anatomy. Changing thoughts imply a changing brain and thus a changing biology and body. Belief systems provide a baseline for the functioning brain upon which other variables act and have their effects. The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n. —John Milton, Paradise Lost In 1948, the World Health Organization defined healthas the presence of well-being—physical, mental, andsocial—not as the absence of disease. The American Psychological Association amended its bylaws in 2001 to recognize “promoting health ” as one of its major missions (Thorn & Saab, 2001). In the past, the point of contact between psychology and health has sometimes been couched in economic terms: for instance, as in the title of one article, “The Impact of Psychological Interventions on Medical Cost Offset ” (Chiles, Lambert, & Hatch, 1999; see also Cummings, 1999). The dollar savings are impres-sive—up to 20 % in some situations—but the interventions are only rarely used (Sobel, 2000). Another focus has been on the contributions psychology can make to the prevention of substance abuse and other behavioral social issues suc