Psychology for Life · Book 20
The Science of Mind-Body Wellbeing
By A.N. Archer · Published by Freyja Publishing
The Healing Mind lays out what changed. Drawing on psychoneuroimmunology, neuroscience, health psychology and stress biology, it describes the specific, measurable pathways through which psychological states reach the body — and it is careful about the difference between what the evidence shows and what it has been claimed to show.
Choose your edition on Amazon
About The Healing Mind
Medicine has long half-known that the mind and the body are connected, but for most of the last century it had no way to show how. The Healing Mind sets out what changed.
Drawing on psychoneuroimmunology, neuroscience, health psychology and stress biology, it describes the measurable pathways through which psychological states reach the body, and it is careful about the difference between what the evidence shows and what has been claimed for it.
What you’ll explore
The study that opened a field. In 1975 psychologist Robert Ader and immunologist Nicholas Cohen published a laboratory finding that the immune system could be influenced by learning. It helped launch the field now called psychoneuroimmunology.
Stress and the body. How chronic stress reaches the cardiovascular and immune systems, and what the evidence does and does not establish.
Placebo and expectation. What the placebo response reveals about expectation, context and the body.
Long-term illness and the gut-brain axis. The psychological side of living with long-term illness, and what is known and still speculative about links between the gut and the brain.
Sleep, movement and connection. Why sleep matters, how movement affects the mind as well as the body, and why social connection shows up in health research at all.
Mindfulness, honestly. What mindfulness research supports at its true effect size, and what the evidence does and does not show about how overwhelming experience affects the body.
Every chapter closes with Where to Begin, a few small steps for today. The book ends with The 30-Day Healing Mind Programme, a month of short daily practices.
Who this book is for
Anyone curious about how what happens in the mind connects with the body, who wants an honest account of the evidence rather than hype.
At a glance
- Series: Psychology for Life, Book 20 of 20
- Author: A.N. Archer
- Publisher: Freyja Publishing
- Length: about 206 pages
- Formats: Kindle eBook, paperback and hardcover
- Kindle edition included with Kindle Unlimited
This book is educational and informational. It is not medical advice and is not a substitute for care from a qualified health professional.
If you enjoy this book
Each title in the Psychology for Life series stands on its own. Readers of this book often go on to:
- Live Well Every Day (Book 2)
- Understanding Emotion (Book 10)
- Rewrite Your Inner Voice (Book 18)