Where is the mind in COVID-19 causality?

Autor: Jean-Luc Mommaerts, MD, MSc, PhD
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: Brain, Behavior, & Immunity - Health, Vol 21, Iss , Pp 100434- (2022)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2666-3546
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbih.2022.100434
Popis: Two years into the pandemic, hardly any studies have been done regarding the influence of the mind on COVID-19. However, there is much circumstantial evidence. The mind influences the body in ways relevant to COVID-19. Unfortunately, of the scientifically proven mental factors influencing immunology, many have been intensified by lockdowns. Relevant research might help us see COVID-19 not as a disease straightforwardly caused by a virus but by a whirlpool of factors in which the virus and mind play essential roles. Social nocebo (mass psychogenic illness) may be a significant mind-related factor in the whirlpool through heightening the suggestive idea that worse will come. This insight might bring a more profound view of the human social condition, transcending the present disaster. Meanwhile, the whirlpool metaphor may help acute COVID-19 patients and long-haulers, letting them understand that their mind is one element in the whole, no more and no less.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals