Psychoneuroimmunology has emerged as a discipline advancing our knowledge of the relationships among psychosocial factors, the central nervous system, the immune system, and disease. The growing volume of evidence suggests that psychological states, including exposure to stressors and the presence of depressive states, may influence health and disease by altering immunologic states.

Psychoneuroimmunology, a collaborative work of 50 international experts, expands on the American Psychiatric Association's symposium on this topic to present never-before-compiled scientific research from this evolving field. Maintaining a clinical focus, this book illustrates clinical effects by examining relevant research studies and models including

• Psychoneuroimmunological factors involved in specific illnesses such as cervical cancer, breast cancer and HIV/AIDS
  
• The role psychoneuroimmunology plays in carcinogenesis and the progression of established tumors, as well as findings on the progression of cancer that have general clinical relevance
  
• The effects of specific psychotropic medications; the effects of life stressors, bereavement, and and social support; the response to those stressors; and stress management and psychosocial predictors of disease
  
• The impacts of gender-specific factors, diurnal variation, and behavioral genetics on the immune function
  
• The Stressor-Support-Coping model, which integrates existing psychoneuroimmunology findings and lays the groundwork for use in support group intervention

This book is a first step toward organizing psychoneuroimmunology findings into coherent theoretical models and concludes with a look at future clinical applications. Complete with charts, references, and a detailed index, it is the most comprehensive source on psychoneuroimmunology.