PSYCHONEUROIMMUNOLOGY
"It is more important to know what kind of a patient has a disease than what kind of a disease a patient has." Sir William Osler, M.D., 1891
In the era of modern medicine and molecular biology, there is a growing interest in psychological factors, which are harmful for our health. There is also emerging search for behaviors, that increase our health potential. Links between our mind and our body are extremely complicated, yet not sufficiently known to our modern science. Psychological stress, good or bad, positive or negative, definitely influences our nervous, endocrine and immune system. All these systems, as well as all systems of our body are mutually connected through, now precisely understood, communication systems, information micro-particles and their receptors, present everywhere in our body, and mutually cooperating. Psychological stress causes MS exacerbations as well as symptom worsening in other diseases. In a similar way act such emotions like mental depression, anger, malice, anxiety and other negative emotions. According to H. Dreher, uninterested help other, unknown people is the most important factor improving immune system. The philosophy of Mother Theresa from Calcuta should be reminded here. Persons with MS can learn to control their emotions, not through suppressing them, but rather through analysis, and adapting ability to change them into positive emotions. Visualization, meditation, Yoga, Feldenkrais, hypnotherapy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and other therapy methods, horseriding, swimming, readiness to change the way of life, thinking, feeling allow to achieve such changes. Disease prevention, according to the First WHO Conference "A Key to Healthy Life", Charlston, South Carolina, 1994, consists of:
Flexibility of neural tissue is one of key topics of the Project "Human Brain: New Tool for XXI-st Century" (National Institute of Health, USA). The above information, methods and techniques may influence healing process in MS and other chronic diseases. These are worth to know and to practice.
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