Stress and immunity: what have we learned from psychoneuroimmunology?

Abstract

The old concept that stress depresses immunity must be qualified. There is now evidence that in the same way that different perceptions of stress have different physiological consequences, different ways of coping with stress result in different consequences on immunity, the nature and outcome of which depend on the type of immune response. The mechanisms that are involved in these effects involve neuroendocrine and autonomic pathways. These pathways are actually part of a network of bidirectional interactions between the central nervous system and the immune system, which plays an important role in the physiological regulation of immunity.