Behavioral Stress Accelerates Prostate Cancer Development

Two studies in the Journal of Clinical Investigation focus on behavioral stress and its effect on prostate cancer. The studies show that stress accelerates prostate cancer.

A vicious circle of stress signaling in prostate cancer.
Credit: Kulik et al., JCI

One definition of stress by the American Psychological Association (APA) is that it is any "stress is any uncomfortable emotional experience accompanied by predictable biochemical, physiological and behavioral changes.”

There are three kinds of stress according to the APA, Acute Stress, Episodic Acute Stress, and Chronic Stress. Of the three, acute stress is the most common. This is the type of stress felt from the demands and pressures everyday situations, from the recent past to the near future.

Episodic Acute Stress is similar to acute stress but is felt by the person more frequently. People who worry too much, pessimists, disorganized, or are always in a rush are some of the types who experience this type of stress.

Chronic stress is felt by people who do see any hope in their situation and have given up searching for solutions. It is a type of stress that is long term and wears down people the longer it stays. A problem with chronic stress is that it is deep-rooted in one's psyche that people get used to it and forget that it's there.

Psychoneuroimmunology studies show that there is a correlation between one's psychological behavior and the nervous and immune systems of the human body. People who suffer chronic stress or even the other two types of stress (in a minor way) may affect one's health and well-being.

Psychoneuroimmunology - The Link Between Loneliness, Stress and The Immune System

A Recent study in psychoneuroimmunology has shown that there is a link between loneliness to a number of dysfunctional immune responses. The study suggests that being lonely can be harmful to ones health and well-being.

Psychoneuroimmunology or Psycho-neuro-immunology (PNI) is the study of the relationship between psychological activity and the nervous and immune systems of the human body. It integrates psychology, neurology, sociology, endocrinology and immunology and how these factors influence the immune system. Some studies even suggest that these changes affect the body at the molecular level.

PNI focuses mainly on the interactions of the nervous and immune system and the relationships between mental processes and health. Basically, PNI studies the relationip of how people think and feel and how it has a direct effect on how the immune systems function. It looks at the connection between behavior and health and tries to translate this into clinically relevant health applications.

The term, Psychoneuroimmunology or Psycho-neuro-immunology, was first used by Robert Ader and Nicholas Cohen at the University of Rochester in 1975. They conducted an experiment that showed that the nervous system can affect the immune system.