According to studies done at Yale and Rutgers Universities, the best predictor of well being and future health is one's current opinion regarding their health status. If one feels they are well, their likelihood of being well in the future is significantly greater. An attempt to quantify the scientific underpinnings of these findings has resulted in the birth of the field of psychoneuroimmunology. This is an attempt to explore the interactions between the psychological, the neurological and the immunological aspects of the patient. This reviewer would suggest that even this is a narrow view of the topic in light of recent research findings. Most of the neurotransmitters are manufactured in the gut and many of the gut modulating hormones are manufactured in the brain. By incorporating aspects of the GI system, and likely, many other systems in the body, this would give a more complete picture of mind/body interaction. I call this psycho-neuro-cardio-gastro-endocrino-musculo-respiro-skeletal-integumento-exocrino-etcetero-immunology!

Dr. Candace Pert, author of the book The Molecules of Emotion and professor at the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience at Rutger's University, has studied this area extensively. Due in part to her work, it is now theorized that neuropeptides are the biochemical correlates of emotion. It is also now known that these neuropeptides have far reaching effects on our physiology. According to Dr. Joan Borysenko, PhD, "Conditioning is a powerful bridge between mind and body. The body cannot tell the difference between events that are actual threats to survival and events that are present in thought alone."