A psychologist and a physician explore how the brain controls the immune system and regulates pain, how social and environmental factors affect resistance to disease, and how our emotions affect our health.

In sickness and in health -- Bodyguards -- The self-ish brain : feeling our way through an unstable world -- The powerful placebo -- The pharmacy within : beliefs, endorphins, and the intrinsic pain relief system -- Great expectations : on the mental reduction of warts and enlargement of breasts -- Small worlds, small brains : making up your mind -- People need people -- From the individual to the social body -- Mind-made immunity : on grief, lymphocytes, and sharks of the mind -- Pressure : social and blood -- A heart apart : on self-centeredness, hostility, and sudden death -- Friends can be good medicine -- Feeling bored, feeling blitzed -- Of hardiness, coherence, and stability.