PNI provides the scientific foundation of several integrative therapies. PNI interventions or mind-body therapies can be categorized into four general mechanisms: sensory, cognitive, expressive, and physical. Some therapies are used in combination, and others incorporate more than one mechanism. Although PNI is limited as a purely biomedical framework, it is a valuable frame of reference becaus...

A growing body of research linking psychological and behavioral factors to the incidence and progression of cancer suggests that psychosocial factors may have an impact on some types of cancer [1–6]. In this paper, we suggest that it is through the impact these behavioral and psychological factors have on the cellular immune response, including natural killer (NK) cell function, that they may u...

Interest in the interplay between mind and body is deep-rooted. Written accounts in Western society are found as far back as the second century, when the physician Galen remarked that cancer seemed to occur more frequently in melancholic (depressed) than sanguine (happy, spirited) women [1]. In traditional Eastern medicine, mind and body have been considered entwined for centuries, and this att...

Three factors in recent medical research and treatment (advances in the field of psychoneuroimmunology, epidemiological evidence regarding important interaction between psychosocial factors and development of disease, and the recognition of the importance of patient education for self-management of asthma) have led clinicians and researchers to reconsider the role of psychosocial stress in asth...

Growing evidence suggests that the arts may be useful in health care and in the training of health care professionals. Four art genres - novels, films, paintings and music - are examined for their potential contribution to enhancing patient health and/or making better health care providers. Based on a narrative literature review, we examine the effects of passive (e.g. reading, watching, viewin...

The biomedical model of health and disease dominates in current medical practice. The model attributes key role to biological determinants and explains disease as a condition caused by external pathogens or disorders in the functions of organs and body systems. Such an approach has its historic justification and has proved effective in the control of massive infectious diseases. However, now th...

Postpartum depression (PPD) is a relatively common and often severe mood disorder that develops in women after childbirth. The aetiology of PPD is unclear, although there is emerging evidence to suggest a psychoneuroimmune connection. Additionally, deficiencies in n-3 PUFA, B vitamins, vitamin D and trace minerals have been implicated. This paper reviews evidence for a link between micronutrien...

There is ample evidence from human and animal studies demonstrating the downward modulation of immune function concomitant with a variety of stressors. As a consequence, the possible enhancement of immune function by behavioral strategies has generated considerable interest. Researchers have used a number of diverse strategies to modulate immune function, including relaxation, hypnosis, exercis...