Psychoneuroimmunology?

PNI is the scientific study which postulates that what you are thinking and feeling (psycho), directly affects your brain and central nervous system function (neuro) and from there your body’s immune system (immunology) In other words: your mental state directly affects your physical wellbeing. 

This is by no means a new claim. Most people have heard of the mind/body principle. Indeed, it has long been a controversial theory in the medical world. But it may ease the disbelief to consider that your endocrine (hormonal) system, is undoubtedly effected by your thoughts. Just think about something wonderful or remember a time when you experienced something wondrous. It takes conscious effort to focus your thoughts on that one single thought. But, in just a few seconds you will have a wonderful feeling flooding through your body just at it did before. Feelings are caused by hormones in your blood stream, and in the case of good feelings, they are endorphins. It is impossible to have any wonderful feeling without these endorphins in your blood stream. And they are real, detectable molecules, they can be measured and named. And they are only released through messages directly from your brain. So, if you can accept that, then the concept of psychoneuroimmunology may not be as much of a stretch as you imagine. 

This branch of neurology proves that the mind, nervous system, and immune system are all connected. Not only that, but that there is no specific sequence to the connections - each is interconnected. If anything goes wrong in this system, and it gets out of balance, it becomes a vicious cycle. And in order to heal, you need control. Medical doctors obtain this control through the use of drugs or surgical intervention. For the rest of us, the question is: which of the three elements of psychoneuroimmunology is the only possible point of control? Nervous system? … Immune system? … Mind? I think you’ll agree, it’s the mind. 

So, what happens when we lay the elements out as a linear cause and effect sequence, beginning with Mind, which you CAN LEARN TO CONTROL. What you think and feel (psycho) causes your nervous system (neuro) to function accordingly. Eg: stress and negative thoughts or emotions cause anxiety. Anxiety causes abnormally fast neural processing resulting in mental overload, that impedes normal functions like digestion and sleep This in turn, causes forgetfulness and exhaustion, resulting in a pendulum swing in neural processing to an abnormally slow rate. Hence depression - slow reflexes, oversleeping, and dullness of intellectual ability. Whereas: positive thoughts and emotions cause optimal neural processing - quicker reflexes; good memory recall and sharpened intellectual ability. The state of your neural processing (neuro) causes your immune system (immunology) to function accordingly. Abnormal (fast or slow) neural processing impedes the normal functions of your immune system - cell repair and white blood cell count and function. Optimal neural processing stimulates the immune system - rapid cell repair; effective white blood cell count and function. 

When we lay psychoneuroimmunology out, as a sequence of cause and effect, there remains only one more question: How can you learn to focus your mind on what you want? My hypnotherapy sessions are designed to give a successful self-belief system and focus your mind into the state that you choose to be in, every day.