HOW THE MIND HURTS
& HEALS THE BODY
How the Mind Hurts and Heals the Body
Oakley Ray
Department of Psychology, Department of Psychiatry, Department of
Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University
ABSTRACT
The author reviews some of the social and behavioral factors acting on
the brain that influence health, illness, and death. Supported with
data from several areas of research, his proposal for understanding
health and illness provides both the concepts and the mechanisms for
studying and explaining mind–body relationships. The brain is the
body's first line of defense against illness, and the mind is the
emergent functioning of the brain. This mind–body approach incorporates
ideas, belief systems, and hopes as well as biochemistry, physiology,
and anatomy. Changing thoughts imply a changing brain and thus a
changing biology and body. Belief systems provide a baseline for the
functioning brain upon which other variables act and have their
effects.
For the full article :
Mind