By Will Dunham
BETHESDA,
Md. (Reuters) - Medical experts gathered on Monday at the U.S.
National Institutes of Health, the very embodiment of the medical
establishment, to discuss a concept once derided as New Age fluff
-- how emotions shape human health and disease.
Leading researchers
in medicine, neuroscience, microbiology, psychology and social
sciences took part in a groundbreaking conference on the mind-body
interaction. But rather than dwell on pop culture self-help themes,
they examined the precise physiological mechanisms involved in
linking a person's mental state to physical health.
``What has
happened is that this field has suddenly become mainstream. Certainly
five years ago, certainly 10 years ago, it was considered New
Age,'' Dr. Esther Sternberg of the NIH's National Institute of
Mental Health said in an interview.
``These notions
that emotions have something to do with disease -- that stress
can make you sick, that believing can make you well -- all of
that has been around for thousands of years, embedded in the popular
culture. And until very recently, we haven't had the scientific
tools to prove these connections in a rigorous, scientific way,''
Sternberg added.
Sternberg
heads a program within her institute that examines the role of
emotions on the human immune system, which fights disease. The
NIH, an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services,
is the main biomedical research arm of the federal government.
Doctors long
have noticed the connection between people's emotional well-being
and how well they cope with disease -- that a depressed person,
for example, might not fare as well as a happier, more hopeful
person. But only recently have researchers begun to examine the
precise mechanisms the body uses to translate emotions into the
physiological defenses against disease.
The aim of
researchers involved in the conference on mind-body interaction
was to nail down the physical and molecular underpinnings of emotions
and disease, using the latest medical technology. They are looking
inside the brain, at hormones and at the immune system for answers.
``Of Course
Love Is Important''
Experts said
researchers wanted to determine the neurobiological circuity behind
how various emotions -- from happiness to loneliness -- affected
ailments such as cancer or heart disease or stroke, as well as
what role sleep played in the equation. A very complex issue,
they said, was the role played by the social realm -- family life,
interaction with friends, stress and other factors.
``Of course
love is important,'' said Dr. Robert Rose, director of the MacArthur
Network on Mind-Body Interactions, a leader in the field. ``Of
course relationships are important. Of course hope and belief
are important. But how important they are, and how they work,
and for what illnesses they are most effective, and what the mechanisms
are -- when we can know that, we can harness it.''
Rose said
the long-term goal was to help people help themselves in getting
better -- in responding better to disease and overcoming symptoms.
``The trick
is to translate how the thing (an experience) goes from the brain
to changes in the hormones and changes in the systems that regulate
immune system cells,'' he said.
``The mechanisms
of the hormonal system and the immune system -- they operate at
a molecular level. They are signaling how a body should respond
to a bacteria, a virus, or respond to a hormone that changes our
blood sugar,'' Rose added.
Rose suggested
that the field of trying to determine how emotions affected health
had been trivialized in the past by self-help personalities who
``talk about the magic of it and that all of us can heal ourselves
by our thoughts.''
``We're not
talking about New Age,'' Rose added. ``We're talking about the
science of what goes on -- understanding scientifically how the
brain responds to the environment.''
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