{"title":"Causal Histories of Psychological Factors and Cancer: From Psychosomatic Medicine to Neuroimmunomodulation.","authors":"Iota Anastassis, Jan Pieter Konsman","doi":"10.1159/000539991","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Establishing causal relationships is essential in biology and medicine. However, various notions of causality have been operationalized at different times in various fields of the life and health sciences. While this is expected from a history or sociology of science point of view, as different accounts may correspond to what is valued in terms of establishing causal relationships at different times as well as in different fields of biology and medicine, this may come as a surprise for a present-day actor in those fields. If, over time, causal accounts have not been fully dismissed, then they are likely to invite some form of, potentially salutary, explanatory pluralism.</p><p><strong>Summary: </strong>In the decades following WWII, psychosomatic medicine could propose that psychological factors cause somatic diseases. But today, most medicine has to meet the standard of a randomized clinical trial before any causal relationship can be proposed. Instead, in biology, mechanisms seem to be the most-valued causal discourse to explain how phenomena of interest are brought about. Here, the focus will be on how psychoneuroimmunology, an interdisciplinary research field addressing interactions between the nervous system and immune system, and between behavior and health, has considered causal relationships between psychological factors and cancer.</p><p><strong>Key messages: </strong>When it comes to causal explanations of links between psychological factors and cancer, psychoneuroimmunology is invited to consider the question of the directionality of these links as well as what and how factors causally contribute to cancer.</p>","PeriodicalId":19133,"journal":{"name":"Neuroimmunomodulation","volume":" ","pages":"143-156"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Neuroimmunomodulation","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1159/000539991","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/6/22 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ENDOCRINOLOGY & METABOLISM","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Establishing causal relationships is essential in biology and medicine. However, various notions of causality have been operationalized at different times in various fields of the life and health sciences. While this is expected from a history or sociology of science point of view, as different accounts may correspond to what is valued in terms of establishing causal relationships at different times as well as in different fields of biology and medicine, this may come as a surprise for a present-day actor in those fields. If, over time, causal accounts have not been fully dismissed, then they are likely to invite some form of, potentially salutary, explanatory pluralism.
Summary: In the decades following WWII, psychosomatic medicine could propose that psychological factors cause somatic diseases. But today, most medicine has to meet the standard of a randomized clinical trial before any causal relationship can be proposed. Instead, in biology, mechanisms seem to be the most-valued causal discourse to explain how phenomena of interest are brought about. Here, the focus will be on how psychoneuroimmunology, an interdisciplinary research field addressing interactions between the nervous system and immune system, and between behavior and health, has considered causal relationships between psychological factors and cancer.
Key messages: When it comes to causal explanations of links between psychological factors and cancer, psychoneuroimmunology is invited to consider the question of the directionality of these links as well as what and how factors causally contribute to cancer.
期刊介绍:
The rapidly expanding area of research known as neuroimmunomodulation explores the way in which the nervous system interacts with the immune system via neural, hormonal, and paracrine actions. Encompassing both basic and clinical research, ''Neuroimmunomodulation'' reports on all aspects of these interactions. Basic investigations consider all neural and humoral networks from molecular genetics through cell regulation to integrative systems of the body. The journal also aims to clarify the basic mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of the CNS pathology in AIDS patients and in various neurodegenerative diseases. Although primarily devoted to research articles, timely reviews are published on a regular basis.