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Product description Psychoneuroimmunology is the study of interactions between the brain and the immune system. This book provides a clearly written, extensively referenced summary of the behavioral, neural and endocrine regulation of immune responses and of the effects of immune system activity on neural and endocrine functions and behavior. It goes beyond previous editions, not only in the amount of basic research that is covered, but by the inclusion of several chapters that address the clinical implications of psychoneuroimmunology for a variety of disease processes. The underlying premise, evidenced by content of this book, is that the brain and immune system represent a single, integrated system of defense. Key Features * State-of-the-art reviews by established investigative teams * Integrative, definitive, and multidisciplinary reviews * Clinical and basic sciences coverage * New directions for clinical and basic research * Extensive references and indexing From The New England Journal of Medicine During the past two decades, there have been major efforts to understand the influence of the nervous system on immune and inflammatory responses. As a result, it has become clear that the immune system communicates with the neuroendocrine system and that imbalances in the neuroendocrine-immune circuitry are relevant to host defenses. This knowledge is the basis of the scientific discipline called psychoneuroimmunology. The first edition of Psychoneuroimmunology was published in 1981 and helped to establish the new discipline. In addition to covering the scant amount of research on the subject that was available at that time, it contained a seminal chapter. This chapter, written by Ader and Cohen, reviewed behaviorally conditioned suppression of the immune system and provided strong support for the integration of the "somatic" and "psychological" aspects of immunity. The table of contents of the third edition of Psychoneuroimmunology is an indication of the depth an