The mind body connection

The mind including the emotions, and the body have always been considered as intimately interconnected by traditional and alternative therapists. Even science recognises that the brain governs more than the muscles. Candice Pert a neuroscientist, who pioneered research on how the chemicals inside our bodies form a dynamic network of communication between the mind and body, and who discovered the opiate receptor, says ‘ I can no longer make a clear distinction between the brain and the body.’ . Her discoveries in the 1980s linking emotions with chemical messangers that communicate with the brain and the immune system has lead to the field of psychoneuroimmunology
(PNI).

So we have discovered that we communicate not just via the nerves and neurotransmitters (like serotonin and adrenaline), but also via hormones and other chemicals in the blood (neuropeptides). These mostly alter behaviour and mood states. The brain areas with the richest supply of receptors for the chemical messengers occur in what we recognise as the emotional centres of the brain such as the limbic system. The mobile cells of the immune system also have receptors for these chemical messengers of emotion, as do many other glands.  Neuropeptides and their receptors thus join the brain, glands and immune system in a network of communication between brain and body, probably representing the biochemical substrate of emotion.

Previous investigations done into this effect, have been in the area of the placebo response. The placebo effect is the direct result of belief on the body. The list of conditions affected by placebo is connected by one biological mechanism the acute phase response. This includes the classic inflammation symptoms of swelling, redness, heat and pain as well as the psychological symptoms of lethargy, apathy, loss of appetite and increased sensitivity to pain – sickness behaviour. These responses are actively produced by the body as part of the healing process. From studies on placebo response it is found to be effective treatment for post operative pain, many other types of pain, inflammation and swelling, ulcers, anxiety and depression. The key to placebos healing effects is the belief of the patient that they have taken something that will help them heal. It this that belief that is then triggering emotional chemical messengers and directing the immune system response.

In the real world, what the field of PNI proves is that what happens in our minds at the level of our perception (and our emotional reaction to that perception) can have real effects on our physiology (our physical response) and more specifically, our immune systems. For example viruses use the same receptor as neuropeptides (in fact norepinephrine a happy hormone) to enter the cell, so the amount of available norepinephrine will affect the ability of the virus to enter the cell, therefore our emotions will effect whether or not we succumb to viral infection.

Chronic stress and unexpressed emotions can disrupt the normal chemical messengers influencing the cell and our health. So what is of importance is not whether we have our emotional ups and downs, but rather that lingering unresolved emotions and inflexible ways of coping, can become the source of chronic low grade stress, which can undermine immune system functioning and well being.

The information presented on this site is presented as a information guide and reference only, and is not intended as a substitute for competent advice and guidance by a qualified practitioner.

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