The Link between Religion and Health Psychoneuroimmunology and the Faith Factor

by Koenig, Harold G.; Cohen, Harvey J.

• ISBN13: 9780195143607
• ISBN10: 0195143604
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-01-17
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This book is the first to present new medical research establishing a connection between religion and health and to examine the implications for Eastern and Western religious traditions and for society and culture. The distinguished list of contributors examine a series of psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) topics that relate to religious faith and behavior. PNI studies the relationships between mental states and the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems. Among the issues it focuses upon are how mental states, ingeneral, and belief states, in particular, affect physical health. The contributors argue that religious involvement and belief can affect certain neuroendocrine and immune mechanisms, and that these mechanisms, in turn, susceptibility to cancer and recovery following surgery. This volume isessential reading for those interested in the relationship between religion and health.

Table of Contents

Contributors	xi
Introduction	3	(8)
Harold G. Koenig
Harvey Jay Cohen
The Connection between Psychoneuroimmunology and Religion	11	(20)
Harold G. Koenig
The Development and History of Psychoneuroimmunology	31	(12)
George F. Solomon
Understanding How Stress Affects the Physical Body	43	(26)
Bruce S. Rabin
Stress, Natural Killer Cells, and Cancer	69	(15)
Ronald B. Herberman
Psychosocial Interventions and Prognosis in Cancer	84	(17)
David Spiegel
Fawzy I. Fawzy
Psychosocial Stress, Social Networks, and Susceptibility to Infection	101	(23)
Sheldon Cohen
Psychosocial Factors, Immunity, and Wound Healing	124	(15)
Harold G. Koenig
Harvey Jay Cohen
Psychosocial Factors, Spirituality/Religiousness, and Immune Function in HIV/AIDS Patients	139	(21)
Gail Ironson
Neil Schneiderman
Hostility, Neuroendocrine Changes, and Health Outcomes	160	(14)
Redford B. Williams
Psychological Stress and Autoimmune Disease	174	(23)
Harold G. Koenig
Harvey Jay Cohen
Immune, Neuroendocrine, and Religious Measures	197	(53)
Bruce S. Rabin
Harold G. Koenig
Psychoneuroimmunology and Eastern Religious Traditions	250	(12)
Paul J. Griffiths
Psychoneuroimmunology and Western Religious Traditions	262	(13)
Warren S. Brown
Psychoneuroimmunology and Religion: Implications for Society and Culture	275	(11)
Howard L. Kaye
Avenues for Future Research	286	(9)
Harvey Jay Cohen
Harold G. Koenig
Conclusions	295	(2)
Harold G. Koenig
Index	297