Abstract
Over the past 20 years, psychoneuroimmunological research has produced a large body of evidence
that challenges the historically dominant view that the immune system operates in an autonomous
manner independent of other physiological systems. Today, there is little doubt that the brain and
the immune system are intimately linked and capable of reciprocal communication (Ader et al.
1991). Despite the acknowledged bi-directional nature of the brain–immune system connection, the
predominant focus of study has been on the effects of psychological and behavioural events (e.g.
stress) on immune responses and disease processes, and the mechanisms underlying such effects (see
Kusnekov & Rabin, 1994; Maier et al. 1994; Rozlog et al. 1999). However, considerable interest
in the possibilities of immune-system-to-brain communication was initiated by a seminal paper
considering the biological basis of behaviour in sick animals (Hart, 1988). Subsequently, the
immunological determinants of the behavioural, cognitive and emotional changes associated with
acute illness, as well as with more chronic psychopathological states (e.g. depression) have become
the subject of rapidly expanding areas of research (e.g. Kent et al. 1992; Lloyd et al. 1992; Hickie
& Lloyd, 1995; Maes et al. 1995a; Rothwell & Hopkins, 1995; Dantzer et al. 1996;
Maier & Watkins, 1998; Vollmer-Conna et al. 1998; Maes, 1999).The main objective of this editorial is to provide a succinct overview of current knowledge of the
normal behavioural correlates of acute infective illness, their adaptive function and underlying
mechanisms. Elucidation of the processes involved in the appearance, maintenance and inhibition
of ‘normal’ sickness behaviour is important if extrapolations from this phenomenon to more
chronic psychopathological conditions are to provide more than a new label for poorly understood
non-specific symptom clusters.
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Subject
Psychiatry and Mental health,Applied Psychology
Cited by
46 articles.
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