Stress and Immune Dysfunction Related to Diseases

When it comes to stress and immune system responses, you can have too much of a good thing. It is true that the stress involved in exercising or achieving goals can be great for your mind and body. Even the stress that propels you to escape danger can ultimately save your life. Yet, ongoing stress is harmful to the body. In previous weeks you explored the dangers associated with prolonged stress. You also examined the relationships among stress, inflammation, and depression. As a health psychology professional educating populations on the prevention and treatment of disease, it is necessary to consider the relationships among stress, inflammation, and depression in the context of specific chronic diseases.

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For this Assignment, review this week’s Learning Resources. Select a disease for your Final Project from the following list:

• Cancer
• HIV
• Type I Diabetes
• Type II Diabetes
• Fibromyalgia
• Graves Diseases
• Asthma
• Colitis
• Rheumatoid Arthritis
• Cardio Vascular Disease
  

Then, search the Walden Library for at least three articles regarding the possible relationship between depression and the disease you selected as well as the immune dysfunction or imbalance for that disease. Finally, consider how stress influences the immunity of the disease you selected.

The Assignment (6–8 pages, not including the title, abstract or reference pages):

Submit an APA-formatted essay that includes the following:

• A description of the disease you selected
• An explanation of the possible relationship between depression and the disease you selected
• An explanation of the immune dysfunction or imbalance for that disease
• An explanation of influences of stress on the immune response of the disease you selected

Support Part One of your Final Project assignment with specific references to all resources used in its preparation. Use at least three articles to support Part One. You are to provide a reference list for all resources, including those in the Learning Resources for this course.

READINGS

• Ader, R. (2001). Psychoneuroimmunology. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 10(3), 94–98.
  Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
• Bovbjerg, D. H. (2003). Conditioning, cancer, and immune regulation. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 17(1), S58–S61.
  Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
• Dantzer, R. (2001). Cytokine-induced sickness behavior: Where do we stand? Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 15(1), 7–24.
  Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
• Meissner, K., Bingel, U., Colloca, L., Wager, T. D., Watson, A., & Flaten, M. A. (2011). The placebo effect: Advances from different methodological approaches. The Journal of Neuroscience, 31(45), 16117–16124.
  Copyright 2012 by The Journal of Neuroscience: the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience. Used by permission of Society For Neuroscience via the Copyright Clearance Center.
• Prasher, D. (2009). Is there evidence that environmental noise is immunotoxic? Noise & Health, 11(44), 151–155.
  Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
• Stewart-Williams, S. (2004). The placebo puzzle: Putting together the pieces. Health Psychology, 23(2), 198–206.
  Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
• Goebel, M. U., Trebst, A. E., Steiner, J., Xie, Y. F., Exton, M. S., Frede, S., …Schedlowski, M. (2002). Behavioral conditioning of immunosuppression is possible in humans. The Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, 16(14), 1869–1873. Retrieved from http://www.fasebj.org/content/16/14/1869.full.pdf
  Copyright 2002 by The FASEB Journal. Used by permission of FEDN OF AM SOCIETIES FOR EXPERIMENTAL BIO (FASEB) via the Copyright Clearance Center.

Optional Resources

• Exton, M. S., Herklotz, J., Westermann, J., & Schedlowski, M. (2001). Conditioning in the rat: An in vivo model to investigate the molecular mechanisms and clinical implications of brain-immune communication. Immunological Reviews, 184(1), 226–235.
  Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
• Goebel, M. U., Meykadeh, N., Kou, W., Schedlowski, M., & Hengge, U. R. (2008). Behavioral conditioning of antihistamine effects in patients with allergic rhinitis. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 77(4), 227–234.
  Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
• Leandro, C. G., de Lima, T. M., Folador, A., Alba-Loreiro, T., do Nascimento, E., de Castro, R. M., … Curi, R. (2006). Physical training attenuates the stress-induced changes in rat t-lymphocyte function. Neuroimmunomodulation, 13(2), 105–113.
  Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
• Vits, S., Cesko, E., Enck, P., Hillen, U., Schadendorf, D., & Schedlowski, M. (2011). Behavioural conditioning as the mediator of placebo responses in the immune system. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 366(1572), 1799–1807.
• The Dana Foundation. (n. d.). Immune conditioning in premalignant HPV disease. Retrieved from http://www.dana.org/grants/human/detail.aspx?id=8820