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Psychosomatic Medicine, Vol 50, Issue 6 567-575, Copyright © 1988 by American Psychosomatic Society

ORIGINAL ARTICLES

The relationship between repressive and defensive coping styles and monocyte, eosinophile, and serum glucose levels: support for the opioid peptide hypothesis of repression

LD Jamner, GE Schwartz and H Leigh
Department of Psychology, California State University, San Bernardino 92407.

The opioid peptide hypothesis of repression (1) predicts that repressive coping is associated with increased functional endorphin levels in the brain, which can result in decreased immunocompetence and hyperglycemia. In a random sample of 312 patients seen at a Yale Medical School outpatient clinic, significant main effects of coping style were found for monocyte and eosinophile counts, serum glucose levels, and self-reports of medication allergies. Specifically, repressive and defensive high-anxious patients demonstrated significantly decreased monocyte counts. In addition, repressive coping was associated with elevated eosinophile counts, serum glucose levels, and self-reported reactions to medications. This behavioral, immunologic, and endocrine profile is consistent with the opioid peptide hypothesis, which provides an integrative framework for relating the attenuated emotional experience of pain and distress characteristic of repressive coping with reduced resistance to infectious and neoplastic disease.


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