Further Reading — Chapter 31: Physical Health and Psychological Wellbeing

Foundational Academic Sources

Engel, G. L. (1977). The need for a new medical model: A challenge for biomedicine. Science, 196(4286), 129–136. The paper that introduced the biopsychosocial model, arguing that the purely biomedical model is scientifically inadequate and that health and illness require understanding at biological, psychological, and social levels simultaneously. Remarkably readable for a landmark theoretical paper. Its argument — that the reductionist biomedical model leaves too much unexplained — is as relevant now as in 1977 and provides the foundational conceptual framework for the entire chapter.

Blumenthal, J. A., Babyak, M. A., Moore, K. A., Craighead, W. E., Herman, S., Khatri, P., ... & Krishnan, K. R. (1999). Effects of exercise training on older patients with major depression. Archives of Internal Medicine, 159(19), 2349–2356. The original Duke study establishing that 16 weeks of aerobic exercise produced equivalent remission rates to sertraline (a standard antidepressant) in older adults with major depression. The foundation of the exercise-as-antidepressant evidence base. Accessible to general readers with some tolerance for clinical study language.

Babyak, M., Blumenthal, J. A., Herman, S., Khatri, P., Doraiswamy, M., Moore, K., ... & Krishnan, K. R. (2000). Exercise treatment for major depression: Maintenance of therapeutic benefit at 10 months. Psychosomatic Medicine, 62(5), 633–638. The 10-month follow-up of the Blumenthal study, establishing the most significant finding: exercise-only participants had significantly lower relapse rates than antidepressant-only participants. The source of the claim that exercise is superior to antidepressants on relapse prevention. Short paper; the clinical implications are clearly stated.

Holt-Lunstad, J., Smith, T. B., & Layton, J. B. (2010). Social relationships and mortality risk: A meta-analytic review. PLOS Medicine, 7(7), e1000316. The 148-study meta-analysis establishing that adequate social relationships are associated with a 50% increase in likelihood of survival — and that social isolation constitutes a mortality risk equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes per day. One of the most cited papers in health psychology. Open access; directly readable.

Epel, E. S., Blackburn, E. H., Lin, J., Dhabhar, F. S., Puterman, E., Karan, L., & Whooley, M. A. (2004). Accelerated telomere shortening in response to life stress. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 101(49), 17312–17315. The study demonstrating that chronic psychological stress — specifically caregiving stress — is associated with shorter telomere length and lower telomerase activity, representing accelerated cellular aging of approximately 10 years in highest-stress caregivers. The paper that brought telomere biology into health psychology.

Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56(3), 218–226. The foundational paper presenting Fredrickson's broaden-and-build theory — that positive emotions broaden attention and behavioral repertoire, and over time build durable personal resources. The most accessible entry into the positive emotions research. Available in many institutional libraries; Fredrickson's writing is clear and compelling.

Jacka, F. N., O'Neil, A., Opie, R., Itsiopoulos, C., Cotton, S., Mohebbi, M., ... & Berk, M. (2017). A randomised controlled trial of dietary improvement for adults with major depression (the 'SMILES' trial). BMC Medicine, 15(1), 23. The SMILES trial demonstrating that a Mediterranean-style dietary intervention produced significantly greater improvements in depression scores than social support alone. The most rigorous RCT connecting diet to clinical depression outcomes. Open access; the methods and results are clearly reported.

Melzack, R., & Wall, P. D. (1965). Pain mechanisms: A new theory. Science, 150(3699), 971–978. The foundational paper introducing gate control theory — the proposition that pain perception is modulated by a gating mechanism in the spinal cord that is influenced by psychological factors, not simply a direct function of tissue damage. A landmark in understanding the integration of physical and psychological processes in pain. Technical in places but historically essential.

Books for General Readers

Sapolsky, R. M. (2004). Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers (3rd ed.). Holt Paperbacks. The definitive popular account of stress biology — how the stress response evolved, what it does to the body when activated chronically, and why humans are uniquely vulnerable to stress-related disease. Sapolsky is among the clearest writers in science; the book covers the HPA axis, allostatic load, immune suppression, cardiovascular consequences, and more with the depth of a textbook and the readability of a good essay. Essential for anyone who wants to understand the physiological architecture of this chapter in depth.

Ratey, J. J., & Hagerman, E. (2008). Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. Little, Brown and Company. The book that popularized BDNF and the exercise-brain connection for general audiences. Ratey covers the neurological mechanisms of exercise's effects on cognition, mood, anxiety, ADHD, and aging, with case studies from a school that replaced detention with morning runs and saw academic performance improve. Highly readable; the science is well-sourced and presented with compelling specificity.

Fredrickson, B. L. (2009). Positivity: Discover the Upward Spiral That Will Change Your Life. Crown Publishers. Fredrickson's accessible book-length presentation of the broaden-and-build theory and its practical implications. Covers positivity resonance, the upward spiral concept, the research on positive emotions and physiological health, and practical approaches to cultivating positive emotional experience. More accessible than the academic papers; practical guidance is specific and actionable.

Sternberg, E. M. (2001). The Balance Within: The Science Connecting Health and Emotions. W. H. Freeman. A neuroscientist's accessible account of the brain-body connection — covering the history of psychoneuroimmunology, the nervous-immune axis, the stress response, and the emerging science of how emotions and physical health interact. Written before some of the most significant recent research, but the foundational mechanisms are clearly and beautifully explained. A good complement to Sapolsky for readers who want the immunological side in more depth.

Coan, J. A. (forthcoming; see also his research papers) — James Coan's social baseline theory has not yet been published as a general-audience book, but his academic papers are accessible (particularly the 2006 paper with Allen and Davidson on handholding and threat response). A Google Scholar search for "Coan social baseline theory" will retrieve the key papers.

Epel, E. (2022). The Stress Prescription: Seven Days to More Joy, Ease, and Peace of Mind. Penguin Life. Elizabeth Epel's (the telomere researcher's) accessible account of what stress does to the body and what to do about it — drawing on her own research and the broader stress biology literature. Practical, research-grounded, and useful for readers who want to move from the Blackburn-Epel telomere findings to concrete self-care applications.

Blackburn, E., & Epel, E. (2017). The Telomere Effect: A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier, Longer. Grand Central Publishing. The Nobel laureate Elizabeth Blackburn and psychologist Elissa Epel's popular science book on telomeres — covering the science of cellular aging, the stress-telomere research, and the evidence for lifestyle factors that preserve telomere length. Well-written; the mix of biology and psychology is handled carefully, with appropriate caveats about causality.

On the Gut-Brain Axis

Mayer, E. (2016). The Mind-Gut Connection: How the Hidden Conversation Within Our Bodies Impacts Our Mood, Our Choices, and Our Overall Health. Harper Wave. A gastroenterologist's account of the gut-brain axis — covering the enteric nervous system, the vagus nerve, the gut microbiome, and the research connecting intestinal function to mood, anxiety, and brain function. More detailed on the gut side than most psychology-oriented books; the chapter on the microbiome-brain connection is especially useful.

Sonnenburg, J., & Sonnenburg, E. (2015). The Good Gut: Taking Control of Your Weight, Your Mood, and Your Long-Term Health. Penguin Press. A microbiome researcher's accessible account of the gut microbiome and its effects on health — including mental health, immunity, and metabolic function. Research-grounded and practically focused; the dietary recommendations are consistent with the SMILES trial findings.

On Social Connection and Health

Murthy, V. H. (2020). Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World. Harper Wave. Former US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy's synthesis of the loneliness research and his argument that loneliness constitutes a public health crisis. Draws on the Holt-Lunstad findings, social baseline theory, and a range of intervention research. Accessible, empathic, and convincing. The loneliness-as-signal framework — loneliness as a biological signal analogous to hunger — is particularly clarifying.

The Character Reading Lists

Jordan is working through: - Spark (Ratey) — started after reading the BDNF section; he annotated the chapter on exercise and cognitive performance and left it on his desk as a reference; has recommended it to Rivera - Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers (Sapolsky) — Dev found it on his nightstand and started reading it; they've been discussing the HPA axis research at Sunday dinners

Amara is working through: - Together (Murthy) — reading the loneliness-as-signal chapters for context on what her more isolated clients experience physiologically; also, if she's honest, for herself during the harder weeks in the new city - The Mind-Gut Connection (Mayer) — supervision with Marcus has been touching on the psychosomatic label and its problems; Mayer's framing of gut-brain integration as a "hidden conversation" feels like the right alternative vocabulary