Emotions and Disease, an exhibit “developed by the History of Medicine Division of the National Library of Medicine… to explain to the general public the meaning and relevance of scientific developments linking neurophysiology to the functioning of our immune systems… One of the paradoxes we found was that the close relationship between health,
disease, and the emotions seemed to be more readily accepted in popular culture than
within the contemporary scientific community. Why, we asked, has the close
relationship of emotions to disease been so central to the long history of medical
practice, yet has been regarded with suspicion by some sectors of the modern
biomedical community?

This exhibition evolved as a dialogue between scientists and historians pursuing answers
to these questions.”