The study of how psychological, neural, and endocrine processes interact to affect the immune system and health.

• A. Neuroimmunology
• B. Immunopsychiatry
• C. Psychoneuroimmunology
• D. Psychopharmacology

Answer: (C)

This field looks at how psychological states influence brain activity and hormonal signaling to shape immune function and overall health. It brings together psychology, neuroscience, and immunology, with the endocrine system acting as a bridge between the mind and immune responses. For example, stress can activate the HPA axis and sympathetic nervous system, releasing cortisol and other hormones that modify immune cell activity and inflammation. That integrative perspective is why the term psychoneuroimmunology fits best. Neuroimmunology focuses more narrowly on nervous-immune interactions, immunopsychiatry emphasizes immune factors in psychiatric disorders, and psychopharmacology studies how drugs affect the brain and behavior, not the broad mind–body–immune connections.