The Origins of Health and Disease

Michael E. Hyland is Professor of Health Psychology at the University of Plymouth. For the first 15 years of his career he worked as a theoretical psychologist and helped set up the International Society for Theoretical Psychology. He went on to develop an interest in health psychology, specialising in respiratory disease. He is the author of several quality of life questionnaires and has published over 100 articles in psychology and medical journals.

• 1. The two philosophies: health, disease, medicine and psychotherapy; 2. The body's mind: psychoneuroimmunology, stress and adaptive response; 3. Personality, disease and the meaning of infornet dysregulation; 4. Networks and their properties; 5. The causes of dysregulation: associative learning, food intolerance and the effects of stress throughout the lifespan; 6. The causes of dysregulation: supervised learning, repetitive strain injury, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, chronic fatigue syndrome and depression; 7. The causes of dysregulation: asthma and precursors to specific disease; 8. Three different types of psychologically mediated therapy: placebos and the art of medicine, psychotherapy and complementary and alternative medicine; 9. Therapeutic mechanisms; 10. Finding the pattern: health in modern society; 11. Infornet theory in perspective.

'Michael Hyland, in [The] Origins of Health and Disease, creates a meta-theory of health and disease, a synthesis that incorporates the notions of mind, brain, body, and environment. This synthesis, based on a scientific theory, explains many of the mysteries of how humans heal. This is a book that will challenge the reader to move beyond conceptualizations of their discipline and should be read and understood by all physicians, psychologists, social workers, counselors - anyone involved in healing.' Bruce E. Wampold, Professor and Chair, Department of Counseling Psychology and Clinical Professor, Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA