ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we build on the overview of the theoretical models presented in Chapter 1 by providing empirical, scientific, and clinical lenses to the discourse. In doing so, we aim to give credence to the prevailing ideas emerging from the philosophical discourses on the notions of mind and body. Therefore, we provide more connections to the evidential and pragmatic applications of the conceptual discussion. More specifically, to validate the conceptual claims, we review some of the salient findings emerging from the literature pertaining to psychosomatic and mind-body medicine, and the neurophysiological evidence. We have further focussed on the literature pertaining to stress, depression and anxiety, sleep problems, psychosis and mania, dementia, gastrointestinal conditions, and pain. In the mind-body medicine review, we have explored mindfulness as evidential validation of the link between the mind and body. Lastly, we considered the neurobiological evidence, specifically in relation to the stress response, and explored the experimental work being conducted on the immune, endocrine, and neural systems. From this appraisal of the literature, we initiate explicit links to wellbeing, although the connections to higher education will become more evident in Chapters 3, 4, and 5. As such, in this chapter, our primary aim is to build on the conceptual ideas presented in Chapter 1 with a view to proposing some thoughts that will inform implications for wellbeing.
