Norman Cousins Memorial Lecture 1998. Stress, personal relationships, and immune function: health implications.

The invitation to present the Norman Cousins Memorial Lecture to the Psychoneuroimmunology Research Society is a distinct honor; this recognition is clearly shared by my primary collaborator, Ronald Glaser, who has had equal responsibility for the design of our studies and whose laboratory generated most of the immunological data I will describe. We have addressed a number of questions since we initiated our joint research program in 1982: How do commonplace, everyday stressors affect the immune response? What are the health consequences of stress-related immunological changes? Does a chronic stressor promote persistent immunological dysregulation? Does age pose an additional risk factor? I will address each of these topics briefly; however, as a clinical psychologist, the studies of greatest interest to me are those that have examined the links between close personal relationships and immune responses and, in turn, how these elements are translated into important health outcomes. Thus, these issues will be my primary focus.