Positive Health Online

Abstract

ANDERSON, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston Massachusetts, USA reviews (61 references) the research literature regarding the links between human immune function and mood disorders. The initial steps of this fledgling research area since its inception during the late 1970s are summarised, and a range of studies needed to enhance our neuroimmunological understanding are outlined. The author writes that future investigations will require more specificity in several realms of inquiry: diagnostic, epidemiologic and physiologic. Basic physiological studies required in both neurophysiology and immunology in order to provide a basis for meaningful examination of their interface are highlighted. One area which requires more specific investigation both in immunologic and mood disorders research is that of temporal organisation. And just as psychiatric researchers have started to scrutinise temporal cycles of mood, behaviour and neurophysiology, so also should exploration of immune functioning take into account predictable temporal cycles including circadian and ultradian rhythms, as they shape responses to unanticipated external disturbances. Clarification of the temporal dimension will significantly add to the analysis of the links between immune functioning and mood disorders. New discoveries revealing hitherto unknown mechanisms are made as the basic science of psychoneuroimmunology continues to mature. However this field is still on the frontier and explanations of the long suspected links between mood disorders and immune functioning are still awaited.

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References

Anderson JL. The immune system and major depression. Adv Neuroimmunol 6(2): 119-29. 1996.