The role of imagination in the disease process: post-Cartesian history.

A previous paper traced the pre-Cartesian history of the concept of imagination as a causal variable in physiopathology. The present paper continues that history, showing the prohibitive impact of mind--body dualism and sampling the views of some eighteenth- and nineteenth-century supporters of the theory. Contemporary research has produced abundant evidence supporting the historic belief that imagination has an around function and a direct link to physiopathology. This literature is surveyed and possible therapeutic applications are discussed.