Psychosocial factors, immunologic mediation, and human susceptibility to infectious diseases: How much do we know?

• Published in: Psychological bulletin 1984-01, Vol.95 (1), p.78-108
• Main Authors: Jemmott, John B, Locke, Steven E
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Antibody Formation; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child, Preschool; Conditioning (Psychology) - physiology; Disease Susceptibility; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Grief; Herpes Simplex - psychology; Hormones - immunology; Human; Humans; Hypnosis; Illness and personality; Immunity, Cellular; Immunization; Immunoglobulin A - immunology; Immunology; Infection - immunology; Infection - psychology; Infectious Disorders; Infectious Mononucleosis - psychology; Inhibition (Psychology); Life Change Events; Literature Review; Lymphocytes - physiology; Male; Middle Aged; Motivation; Personality; Psychology and medicine; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Respiration Disorders - psychology; Skin - immunology; Stress, Physiological - immunology; Stress, Psychological - immunology; Susceptibility (Disorders)
• ISSN: 0033-2909; 1939-1455
• DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.95.1.78

Recent evidence from animal models of stress suggests that stress can impair immunologic competence, rendering the host more vulnerable to infection and neoplasm. The present authors review studies on the relationship between psychosocial factors and human immunologic functioning, focusing on studies bearing on the relationship of psychosocial factors to altered susceptibility to infectious diseases and those bearing on the relationship of such factors to specific aspects of the human immune response. Findings indicate that a variety of psychosocial variables, disease states, and aspects of both humoral and cell-mediated immune responses have been investigated, and evidence favors the view that psychosocial variables may play a role in modulating the human immune response. More research is needed before it can be definitively concluded that the relationship between stress and human susceptibility to infectious diseases is a psychoimmunologic nexus. Relationships between the endocrine and immune systems are also discussed. (5 p ref)