The discipline of neuroimmunolgy, or the way in which the human brain and the central nervous system support the body's immune system, is a relatively new field in medical research. However, new as it is, there is a research journal, Journal of Neuroimmunology, which was established in 1981, and a medical society established one year later. Moreover, the burgeoning research in the field has already generated a growing conspectus of research which leads to anatomical, physiological and pathological conclusions that support the idea that there are functional ties between the brain and the body's ability to suppress disease.
The basis for neuroimmunology, however, has a long medical history. As early as the late nineteenth century researchers had begun to speculate that the immune system could be stimulated by brain function. In the 1930s and 1940s, scientists refined techniques of immunology and led researchers to work within the confines of neurological problems. By the late 1960s and early 1970s, the field was beginning to attract a wider attention and research base. Cell biologists, for instance, began looking in earnest at the way in which viral infection reacted to brain chemicals. The field is now wide open, and new discoveries are being promulgated at an increasing rate. The current research suggest that, in fact, there is a direct and extremely powerful relationship between psychological states of mind, the chemicals produced by the brain under such circumstances, and the way that the immune system operates.
Clearly, the mind has a powerful and complex association with the rest of the body. What appears to be happening physiologically is that during periods of particular stress and negativity, the brain stops producing chemicals that either stimulate or help the body to ward off disease. Dr. George Solomon, a researcher in the field of AIDS and psychoimmunology, commented that his studies "have been able to correl...