Includes bibliographical references (p. 312-338) and index.

Machine generated contents note: 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.

"Some phenomena in medicine and psychology remain unexplained by current theory. Chronic fatigue syndrome, repetitive strain injury and irritable bowel syndrome, for example, are all diseases or syndromes that cannot be explained in terms of a physiological abnormality. In this intriguing book, Michael Hyland proposes that there is a currently unrecognised type of illness which he calls 'dysregulatory disease'. Hyland shows how such diseases develop and how the communication and art of medicine, good nursing care, complementary medicine and psychotherapy can all act to reduce the dysregulation that leads to dysregulatory disease. The Origins of Health and Disease develops a novel theory for understanding health and disease, demonstrates how this theory is supported by existing data and how it explains currently unexplained phenomena. Hyland also shows how his theory leads to new testable predictions that, in turn, will lead to further scientific advancement and development"--Provided by publisher.