Psychology’s Gateway to the Biomedical Future

ABSTRACT—How do stressful events and negative emotions influence the immune system, and how big are the effects? This broad question has been intensely interesting to psychoneuroimmunology researchers over the last three decades. Many promising lines of work underscore the reasons why this question is still so important and pivotal to understanding and other advances. New multidisciplinary permutations provide fresh vistas and emphasize the importance of training psychologists more broadly so that they will be central and essential players in the advancement of biomedical science. 3 How do stressful events and negative emotions influence the immune system, and how big are the effects? This broad question has been intensely interesting to psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) researchers over the last three decades, and the consequent discoveries have substantially changed the face of health psychology. We have learned that distress can slow wound healing, diminish the strength of immune responses to vaccines, enhance susceptibility to infectious agents, and reactivate latent viruses (Glaser & Kiecolt-Glaser, 2005). Moreover, stress and depression can also substantially augment the production of proinflammatory cytokines that ar