This paper surveys a number of key experiments and case studies relating to psychoneuroimmunology. It finds that most techniques to influence or even direct the immune system via the mind fall into a series of theoretical categories called passive, active and targeted effects. By examining the results of experiments and studies in the light of these categories a number of important conclusions ...

This paper explores the effects of stress on nurses, patients, and the healing environments. Through a synthesized review of the effects of stress on the psychoneuro-immunological system, this article provides strong evidence for why nurses must create and enact caring-healing processes from both a physiological and ethical perspective. The ethical call toward decreasing stress for the self, fo...

the prognosis of the neoplastic diseases depends not only on the biogenetic characteristics of cancer cells but also on the immunological response of patients, which may influence the biological features of cancer cells themselves as well as the angiogenic processes. moreover, the immune system in vivo is under a physiological psychoneuroendocrine (pne) regulation, mainly mediated by the brain ...

The central nervous system is hypothesized to have a role in the modulation of immune function. This chapter provides an overview of the association between psychological factors and immunity, concentrating on the immunological alterations of depression. In addition, experimental evidence is reviewed of the neural and endocrine mechanisms that have been proposed to alter immune function in depr...