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Mental Processes and Health: The Mind-Body Connection

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Understanding Health Determinants

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Abstract

Previous chapters have documented in a purely mechanical manner the role of the brain in generating the physiological responses to social circumstances. The current chapter extends this to include the role of the interpretive mind, exploring its links to the brain and to physiological processes that lead to disease. The chapter describes evolving historical conceptions of mind and of mind-body connections, leading up to the dual processing model that shows how mind-body interactions can bypass higher-level cognitive processing. The mind may affect health indirectly, through influencing health-related behavior, or it may more directly influence neuroendocrine and immune mechanisms. This introduces a review of embodiment, focusing on cognitive and emotional embodiment whereby our bodies may react to reality without conscious awareness. The embodiment of cultural and social beliefs is outlined. The chapter then illustrates these mind-body influences through a description of the placebo response, covering its mechanisms, effectiveness, and the characteristics of placebo responders. A brief overview of interdisciplinary perspectives on the mind-body link covers psychoneuroimmunology, psychosomatics, and psychoanalysis. The chapter closes with a discussion of the role of mental processing and intelligence as mediating influences between socioeconomic status and health outcomes such as longevity.

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  1. School of Epidemiology and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Ian McDowell

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McDowell, I. (2023). Mental Processes and Health: The Mind-Body Connection. In: Understanding Health Determinants. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28986-6_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28986-6_11

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