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It is well known that chronic stress increases proinflammatory cytokines and suppresses cellular and humoral immunity, thus increasing nonspecific inflammation and susceptibility to infection. To examine how psychotherapy might affect immune function, researchers performed a meta-analysis of 56 randomized, controlled trials involving >4000 patients with various illnesses.
Psychotherapies included cognitive therapy, behavioral therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), CBT plus a nonpsychotherapy intervention, bereavement or supportive therapy, multiple or combined psychotherapies, and psychoeducation. There were seven immunity outcome measures: proinflammatory cytokines and markers, anti-inflammatory cytokines, antibody levels, immune cell…