Psychoneuroimmunology and health psychology: inflammation and protective factors

Abstract

A common clinical observation is the adverse relationship between stress and human diseases. The attention of scientific research on health has been disproportionately focused on risk factors that predict the onset of certain health outcomes, in particular there has been an increasing interest in the role of inflammation as a common mechanism of disease in a number of medical and neuropsychiatric diseases. Despite the importance of such research being undisputed, it is necessary to emphasize what the protective factors are that promote psychosocial recovery processes and increased survival rates in a biopsychosocial perspective. This article aims to understand the relationship between psychosocial factors and immune system in the interests of health psychology, highlighting the protective factors that promote recovery, resiliency and resistance to disease.