Fisher's psychobiological model of emotional construing: Negative emotions and immunity

We applied Fisher's (1990) psychobiological model of emotional construing to the interaction between psychological and physiological variables. Participunts were 33 women and 36 men, drawn mainly from a graduate student population and ranging in age from 25 to 55 years old. Anger and depression were the psychological variables. Physiological variables included serum cortisol levels, suppressor and helper T-cell percentages, and white blood cell peroxidase activity. There were significant differences between men and women in the relationships among anger, depression, and immunological and endocrinological parameters. Primitive emotional constructions appeared to be more strongly related to immunological strain than complex emotional constructions. There were more and higher (positive) correlations for women in these relationships. Scores on two measures (State Anger and Anger-ln) negatively correlated with white blood cell peroxidase activity in men. Negative emotions may result in impaired immunological status, and the implications of this for many traditional therapeutic techniques are discussed.