Abstract
Psychoneuroendocrineimmunology (PNEI) brings together knowledge acquired since the 1930s from endocrinology, immunology, neuroscience, and psychology. With PNEI, a model of research and interpretation of health and disease is emerging, which sees the human body as a structured and interconnected unit, where the psychological and biological systems are mutually coordinated. In the PNEI view, many factors could influence mental health, with the endocrine system involved in mediating the effects of environmental stress on mental health and inflammation in the onset and course of psychiatric disorders as a result of individual and collective conditions and behaviors. Among these, nutrition is one way by which the environment impacts physiology: indeed, many pieces of research showed that several elements (e.g., probiotics, fish oil, zinc) have a positive effect on mental disorders thus being potentially augmentation agents in treatment. Still, physical activity can moderate depressive symptoms, while prolonged stress increases the risk of psychopathology. Taken together, the PNEI-based approach may inform prevention and treatment strategies, also in the field of mental health care.
Highlights
Since the 19th century, disorders and diseases of the mind have been split into neurological and psychiatric disorders and entrusted to two different medical approaches
Biology is undergoing an exciting moment, at present underway, bridging the abyss that has separated the area of human biology from that of social history
According to a recent review, the gut microbiota of patients with Major Depression Disease (MDD) shows profound taxonomic changes associated with increased bacterial pro-inflammatory products, reduced Short Chain Fatty Acids (SCFAs) synthesis, impaired intestinal barrier integrity, and altered neurotransmitter production [43]
Summary
Since the 19th century, disorders and diseases of the mind have been split into neurological and psychiatric disorders and entrusted to two different medical approaches. The new integrated approaches provide the theoretical and practical basis to the prevention and treatment of non-communicable diseases, those of competence of both internists and psychiatrists; likewise, allow to go beyond the historical-philosophical contrast between mind and body, and overcome the twentieth-century scientific reductionism which assign the body to the medicine and the psyche to the psychology. This narrative review on nutrition, exercise, and stress management for treatment and prevention of psychiatric disorders is Psychoneuroendocrineimmunology-based with a focus on stress and the neuroendocrine system
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