Psychosocial Genomics- Connecting the Mind, Genetics, and Creativity explores the interrelation between gene expression, neurogenesis, and mind body healing.
The study of this relationship is called psychosocial genomics, and is a subset of functional genomics. This is researched by observing how subjective states of human consciousness and social and cultural signals modulate gene expression and vice versa.
The mind, body, and genome are all interlocked, allowing thoughts, emotions and behavior to modulate gene expression in health, performance, stress, and illness. Research on newly recognized connections between psychological experience and gene expression can help us to understand the meaning of culture, psychotherapy, and holistic healing arts.
While Darwin and Mendel described the long term changes of gene expression through evolution and inheritance, now we study short term changes. Psychoneuroimmunology studies environmental responses, psychology studies waking, sleeping, dreaming and moods, neuroscience studies memory and learning, and psychosomatics studies arousal and stress. The Mendelian view of genetics says that genes are independent biological determinants, completely defining physical traits, inherited abilities, and dysfunctions. The nature versus nurture debate begins to question how is genetic expression altered by the environment and experience?
There is no direct experimental documentation of how psychotherapy can modulate gene expression. However, learning and experiences can modify neural connections, possibly changing the expression of genes altering the distribution and strength of specific synaptic connections. A new process called “data-mining” uses software to analyze which genes are turned on and off during psychological experiences.
Immediate-early genes (IEGs), also known as third messengers, generate protein synthesis as an adaptive response to stress and psychological arousal. Kuhn, Schanberg and their colleagues at Duke University observed two IEGs, c-myc and maz, which activate a target gene ODC (ornithine decarboxylase). This in turn synthesizes proteins and growth hormones that control physical growth and maturation in infants. They found that 15 minutes of deprivation of maternal touch from 10 day old rat pups caused a 40% decrease in ODC within 2 hours. When they were returned to their mother, there was a 300% increase of ODC levels.
There has been many similar observations made in human babies where lack of touch caused psychosocial dwarfism or nonorganic failure to thrive. A lack of maternal touch caused a decrease in ODC, a reduction of DNA synthesis and cell multiplication, abnormal nueroendocrinal secretion patterns, and surpression of cell responses to growth hormone, prolactin, and insulin. In these cases, just giving the babies growth hormones did not restore their healthy growth patterns. Engel and Reich added on to these conclusions when they noticed that as they were draining stomach contents that flowed through a hole in an isolated baby’s abdomen due to a gastric fistula, if they played with the baby more fluid would be generated. They concluded that not only can a lack of touch cause a change in gene expression, but excessive stimulation can induce stress and produce a similar result.
Certain core housekeeping genes that regulate daily functions including metabolism, respiration, and waste removal have been found to respond to signals due to moment to moment changes in the environment.
Clock genes, genes that regulate waking, sleeping, and dreaming, follow our circadian rhythm. Reppert and Weaver proposed that the study of these genes, called chronobiology, can help us to better understand and address psychopathology, jet lag, sicknesses that off-hours shift workers deal with, and sleep and psychiatric disorders. These genes follow a specific gene expression-protein synthesis cycle that can are altered by the environment.
Early activated genes are genes that reach their peak of expression in one hour.
The study of these genes falls under psychoneuroimmunology. One example of these is the Interleukin 2 gene, which can be turned off because of stress in an environment, and is crucial in regulating immune response. Kleitman studied the rest-activity cycle associated with psychotherapy and found that it generally generates a response after 1-2 hours. This is possibly implying that significant changes of the psychoneuroimmune system could take place in psychotherapy and other forms of healing arts.
Neuroscience is beginning to study activity-dependent gene expression, which is when arousing psychological stimuli causes modulation of gene expression through generating new neurons from stem cells in the brain. It is hypothesized that stem cells throughout the body react to psychogenomic signals in this same way. Activity dependent gene expression is associated with motivation, curiosity, and creativity, giving major function to cultural activities including art, dance, storytelling, music, etc.
A connection between novel experiences, nuvinosum (peak moments of spiritual insight and transformation), and neurogenesis is the core of psychobiology. This is recognized as a two way street where body state modulates the mind, and experience of mind modulates gene expression. In conclusion, the evolutionary function of creative arts and sciences could be to evoke experiences of novelty and numinosum that drive changes in gene expression, protein synthesis, neurogenesis, and healing.
Psychosocial genomics could give an evidence based foundation for alternative and complementary approaches to mind body medicine. Together immediate-early genes, clock genes, behavioral state related gene expression, and activity-dependent gene expression generate the psychobiology of consciousness.
References
Rossi, Ernest. Psychosocial Genomics: Gene Expression, Neurogenesis, and Human Experience in Mind-Body Medicine
