Chapter 3:
Stress and Disease
By comprehending that human
beings are energy, one can begin to
comprehend new ways of viewing
health and illness.
- Richard Gerber M.D.
Relationship
between stress and disease?
Science has not been able to demonstrate a
concrete connection between stress and
disease.
However, this chapter presents various
scientific views and explanations of
hypothesized relationships between stress
and disease.
Stress and disease connection

The current focus on the stress and
disease phenomenon is directed
toward the interactions of the:
–
–
–
immune system
the CNS
human consciousness
Disease and illness relationship
Current research has indicated
that between 70 to 80 percent of
health-related problems may be
precipitated or aggravated by
stress.
Stress and disease
To understand the relationship between stress and
disease, one needs to consider that several factors
act in unison to create a pathological outcome,
including the:
cognitive perceptions of threatening stimuli
–
–
–
consequent activation of the nervous system
endocrine system
immune system
Psychoneuroimmunology
Pelletier defines psychoneuroimmunology
as the study of the intricate interaction of
consciousness (psycho), brain and
central nervous system (neuro), and the
body’s defense against external infection
and internal aberrant cell division
(immunology).
Four theoretical models
The Borysenko Model
 The Pert Model
 The Gerber Model
 The Pelletier Premodel

The Borysenko Model
Borysenko outlined a dichotomy of stressinduced dysregulation and a matrix
describing the “immune balance”
regarding four classifications of disease.
 He suggests that when the autonomic
nervous system releases an abundance
of stress hormones, several physiological
repercussions can result, among them,
migraines, ulcers, and hypertension.

Borysenko’s stress and disease
dichotomy
Autonomic Dysregulation
(overresponsive ANS)
Immune
Dysregulation
migraines
infection
(virus)
allergies
AIDS
cancer
lupus
arthritis
peptic ulcers
irritable bowel syndrome
hypertension
coronary heart disease
asthma
Borysenko’s immune activity
matrix
Overreaction
Exogenous
activity
Underreaction
Allergies Infections
(colds & flu)
Herpes
Endogenous Arthritis Cancer
activity
Lupus
The Pert Model
Pert’s model cites research findings linking
the nervous system with the immune
system
 Various cell tissues comprising the immune
system can synthesize neuropeptides to
alter immune function
 Emotions can suppress or enhance immune
function

The Gerber Model
Gerber uses an holistic approach or systems theory approach - mind as conscious and
unconscious thought exists as energy that
surrounds and permeates the body,
influencing a host of corporal biochemical
reactions.
Gerber Model


Gerber’s model states that the mind
consists of energy (bioplasma)
surrounding and permeating the body.
Disease, then, is disturbance in the human
energy field, which cascades through the
level of the subtle energy to the body via
chakras and meridians.
Gerber Model


Stress-related symptoms that appear in the
physical body are the manifestation of
problems which have occurred earlier as
a result of disturbances at higher energy
level.
Thoughts, perceptions, and emotions, which
originate in various layers of subtle energy,
cascade through the mind-body interface
and are decoded at the molecular level to
cause biological changes in the body.
The Gerber model
The Pelletier Pre-Model


Pelletier believed that a number of issues
must be addressed and understood
before a stress-disease model can be
developed.
These issues include disease states in
people with multiple personality
disorder, spontaneous remissions,
hypnosis, placebos/nocebos, cell
memory, subtle energy, and
immune-enhancement.
After reviewing the medical
literature Pelletier believed:

the only logical approach to
understanding the stress-disease/
mind-body phenomenon is an
approach in which the individual is
considered greater than the sum of its
physiological parts.
Nervous System-Related
Disorders
bronchial asthma
 tension headaches
 migraine headaches
 temporomandibular
joint dysfunction

irritable bowel
syndrome
 ulcers and colitis
 coronary heart
disease

Temporomandibular joint
dysfunction
Immune System-Related
Disorders
the common
cold and
influenza
 allergies
 rheumatoid
arthritis




lupus
cancer
AIDS
"It is the commonest of mistakes
to consider that the limit of our
power of perception is also the
limit of all there is to perceive."
-C.W. Leadbeater-