University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University to share $10 million NIH grant to study mind-body rel...( health outlooks for people everywhere....),Health

"There is a growing realization that many of the ideas about mind-body relationships are similar across diseases and that knowledge learned about one disease may help us understand another," said Karen A. Matthews, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry, epidemiology and psychology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Pitt principal investigator. "This is the first time the NIH has funded centers to study how beliefs, attitudes and emotions affect different diseases and how those can be developed, maintained and changed."

"The center has something in it for everyone - researchers, theorists and patients," added Michael F. Scheier, professor of psychology and co-principal investigator from Carnegie Mellon. "On one hand, it will allow us to test theoretical notions about how the mind and body interact to affect health. It also will allow us to develop interventions that are designed to enhance the quality and duration of life among people suffering from different kinds of chronic illnesses."

The grant recognizes the leading role that researchers at both Pitt and Carnegie Mellon have played in studying mind-body interactions and health. For example, individual studies done at the schools have shown that women with increased anger or hostility have a greater risk for coronary artery disease; people who have a larger support network of friends and relatives get sick less often than those who lead solitary lives; and osteoarthritis has the potential to compromise the health of family members as a result of the patient's negative responses to symptoms and the burden of providing emotional support and task assistance to the patient. The projects to be completed under the auspices of the new center will build upon knowledge obtained through these studies and others. They are:

• The risk for respiratory illnesses such as the flu may be affected by the health of an individual's marital and non-marital
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