Stress, depression, and psychoneuroimmunology.

Stress is a common phenomenon most people encounter every day, whereas depression represents a vast constellation of mental disorders of multifarious etiology. Both situations have been exhaustively evaluated and scrutinized in the complex field of psychoneuroimmunology (PNI). PNI studies have attempted to ascertain and define the extensive links among and intricate web of neural activity, the endocrine system, and altered immune responses in stressed patients and those with depressive disorders. Although the literature indicates some type of relationship exists between these systems, the associations between and relevance of immune alterations in depression and stress to health and illness remain to be determined. Only by seeking to expand our knowledge of these neurological, endocrine, and immunological alterations in depressed and stressed neurological patients will our understanding of stress, depression, and health be magnified and our ability to provide holistic care be maximized.