Healing Brain Seminar: October 1981

Medicine and medical care have understandably been focused on those who become ill. Considerable evidence has accumulated showing that particular environmental, behavioral and biological factors increase the risk of disease and disability. However, not all people exposed to these risk factors become ill. In fact, the overwhelming majority remain healthy. What can we learn from examining those people with high resistance to disease? Why are some people able to withstand considerable life stress and yet remain healthy?

A new view of human health and disease is emerging—one which acknowledges the remarkable sensitivity, resiliency and recuperative powers of the human organism. This inter-disciplinary symposium will bring together leading researchers and clinicians to explore the critical role of personality, coping, social support, exercise and nutrition in determining who stays healthy.

FACULTY

Jonathan E. Fielding, M.D., M.P.H., is Co-director of the Center for Health Enhancement Education and Research and is Professor of Pediatrics and Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles. He is also the former Commissioner of Public Health for Massachusetts. He is actively involved in research and program development in the areas of community and industrial health promotion and computer-assisted health risk appraisal.

William L. Haskell, Ph.D., is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine and Family, Community and Preventive Medicine at Stanford University. His major research interests are the health benefits of exercise and factors limiting human physical performance. Recent research has focused on exercise in heart disease prevention and cardiac rehabilitation. He is author of numerous articles on exercise, performance and health.

Suzanne C. Kobasa, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor, Committee on Social and Organizational Psychology, Department of Behavioral Sciences, University of Chicago. Her major research has been in the area of resistance to stress including ongoing studies of executives, lawyers, army officers and women at risk for cervical cancer.

Richard S. Lazarus, Ph.D., is Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. His research interests have principally focused on cognitive processes that mediate stress and coping with stress and illness. He has authored numerous research and theoretical papers as well as several books including Psychological Stress and the Coping Process and Patterns of Adjustment.

Marion Nestle, Ph.D., is Associate Dean, University of California San Francisco and Lecturer in the Departments of Medicine and Biochemistry. She directs the UCSF Nutrition Curriculum Development Project and teaches nutrition to medical and other health professions students and practitioners.

Ray H. Rosenman, M.D., is Senior Research Physician, SRI International and Associate Chief of Medicine at Mount Zion Hospital and Medical Center. As a cardiologist he has extensively investigated the role of risk factors including behavior in the development of coronary heart disease and hypertension. He has authored numerous scientific papers and co-authored a popular book Type A Behavior and Your Heart.

David S. Sobel, M.D., M.P.H., is Chief of Preventive Medicine, Kaiser-Permanente Medical Center at Santa Teresa and Medical Director of the Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge. His current areas of interest include medical self-care, behavioral medicine and health promotion. He is editor of a book Ways of Health and serves as a symposium chairperson.

S. Leonard Syme, Ph.D., is Professor of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley. A medical sociologist by training, his major research has been in the area of sociocultural determinants of noninfectious diseases.

SYMPOSIUM CHAIRPERSONS
Lucy Ann Geiselman, Ph.D.
Robert E. Ornstein, Ph.D.
David S. Sobel, M.D.

PROGRAM

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17 MORNING

PEOPLE NEED PEOPLE: SOCIAL SUPPORT AND HEALTH
S. Leonard Syme, Ph.D.
Certain environmental, behavioral and biological factors have been shown to increase the risk of disease—and yet the majority of people exposed to such factors remain healthy. While some people may be protected by good genetic backgrounds, most protection is conferred by our own behavior, including the support we seek and receive from other people. Recent research now strongly suggests that such social support acts to protect us from the impact of many disease risk factors.

LIVING WITH TYPE A BEHAVIOR
Ray H. Rosenman, M.D.
Conventional risk factors for coronary heart disease have little relevance unless associated with certain behaviors known as Type A. The advantages of Type A behavior without its coronary-prone components will be discussed in terms of promoting productivity, creativity, improved life satisfactions and good health.

PANEL

AFTERNOON

STRESS-RESISTANT PERSONALITY
Suzanne C. Kobasa, Ph.D.
The personality characteristic of hardiness identified by commitment, control and a sense of challenge in the face of life change appears to help keep people healthy under stress situations. Hardiness is associated with less self-report of physical and psychiatric symptoms as well as favorable clinical laboratory measures. This personality characteristic works alone and in interaction with other resistance resources such as social support, exercise, and constitutional predisposition.

THE EFFECT OF DAILY HASSLES AND UPLIFTS ON HEALTH
Richard S. Lazarus, Ph.D.
In addition to dramatic life events and crises, the frequent minor hassles and frustrations of daily life appear to be potent predictors of health and illness. These daily hassles often reflect inept coping and indicate areas of vulnerability. It is not so much what happens to us but how we handle these stresses that appears to determine health. The role of coping with daily experiences, including hassles as well as positive uplifting incidents, will be discussed as major factors in who stays healthy.

PANEL

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18 MORNING

HOW MUCH EXERCISE DO YOU NEED?
William L. Haskell, Ph.D.
At all ages, frequent exercise is required for optimal health and performance. The benefits of exercise are diverse and include changes in our anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, and mental state. The health-related benefits and risks of exercise will be discussed including new findings on the psychological effects of regular exercise. In addition, guidelines for developing an activity plan for healthful living will be presented.

EAT, DRINK AND BE HEALTHY
Marion Nestle, Ph.D.
The importance of good nutrition in health promotion and disease prevention is well known, yet much popular dietary advice is confusing and contradictory. The current knowledge of the role of diet in preventing and resisting disease will be reviewed along with the evidence supporting the major federal dietary recommendations for Americans. These recommendations lead to a unifying hypothesis for the optimal composition of both normal and therapeutic diets.

PANEL

AFTERNOON

HEALTH RISK ASSESSMENT
Jonathan A. Fielding, M.D.
Many instruments and approaches, some including computers, have recently been developed and marketed to estimate an individual’s health risk for preventable and postponable diseases. A critical discussion will be presented on how such risk estimates are made, how reliable the data is, and how these predictions of health can be used to improve health.

WHO STAYS HEALTHY?: A SUMMARY
David S. Sobel, M.D.

PANEL