Cognition and Wound Healing

Abstract

Wound healing is a complex process formed of various overlapping stages, namely, clot formation, inflammation, proliferation, and remodeling, which depend on the systemic health and a competent immune system. Negative cognitive processes such as pain and stress can induce the stress response, which delays wound healing by deteriorating health and modulating the immune function through the activation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal and sympathetic-adrenal-medullary axes. Hence, it seems that practices capable of mitigating stress or pain might accelerate wound healing. This chapter reviews the effects of relaxation and meditation, music therapy, expressive writing, hypnosis, and placebo on physiological health and wound recovery.