A NEW EMERGING SCIENCE OF MIND-BODY HEALING – PSYCHONEUROENDOCRINOIMMUNOLOGY (PNEI)

 The blurring of the psychological boundaries during childhood becomes an important source of future physiological stress or illness in adults. People who have weak personal boundaries live with the stress that a have vicious effect on the hormonal and immune system. These stresses are part of the everyday life ruled by others. These are the real stressors that lead these people to become unaware of these culprits. Stress can be transformed into an illness. Let me tell you how? Stress is a complicated chain reaction of physical and psychological responses to powerful emotional triggers. Emotions are electrical, hormonal and chemical discharges of the human nervous system. Emotions affects and are affected by the organs system especially Yin and solid organs such as Kidneys, Liver, Spleen, Heart and Lungs (fear, anger, worry, joy/excitement, and grief) and the combined effect of the immune system including several circulating biochemical substances that help control our physiology of the body. When our emotions are repressed, this repression over the long period of time inhibits the body’s defense mechanism against the illness. Repression means dis-associating mental awareness from motions and putting them to unconscious area which in turn lead to confused and scattered physiological defenses, immune system, endocrine system and the psyche leaving a person vulnerable to diseases. In other words “Protector itself becoming destroyer”. A new science of mind-body healing is emerging known as “Psychoneuroimmunology” or simple PNI and through evident research done by scientists from different fields, that there exists a close link between the immune system and the brain. A patients emotional coping ability and the response he/she gives to continual stress might be the aggravating as well as causative factor behind the disease where the aetiology of the disease is unknown. Autoimmune disorders like multiple sclerosis, Scleroderma, Lupus (SLE), and various Rheumatic d

So, what is PNI or Psychoneuroimmunology? It is the science of the mind-body interaction, the inseparable link between emotions and physiology in the development of the human being and his/her life line in health and disease. The PNI system studies the ways the human mind, psyche and its product (emotions) largely interacts with the nervous system and their link with the immune system. It is also known as Psycho-neuro-immuno-endocrinology to show that endocrine or hormonal axis is also linked with the whole body response. Researchers are now revealing how these links works and interacts with each other down to the level of cells. Eastern philosophies and alternative medicine like Ayurveda, Yoga, Chinese medicine, Acupuncture, Tai chi, and Qi gong are all based on mind-body connection and how western science is becoming mind-body based through PNEI mechanism. The concept of mind-body link understood by ancient physicians and their data has been mostly lost without a sign. Our immune system is not an isolated entity and it does not work alone from daily life experiences. We have lost connection with our intuition and gut feeling which are meant to be our alarm system of warning or wake up call. The body initiates a stress response, but the mind remain unaware of the threat it produces. We constantly keep ourselves in physiological stressful situations with only little or no awareness at all. In globalized and industrialized world the silent killers and stressors are emotions. People are caged in lifestyles and emotional turbulences that are threat to their health and well-being. As the world is advancing and exciting we are becoming numb to our emotional health realities. We have lost the capability to recognize our inner feelings and emotions along with the signals body shows to us.

By Dr Abid Khan. Acupuncturist