Why doctors are paying more attention to your nervous system

THERE are few systems in the body that influence our physical, psychological and emotional well being as much as the nervous system.

While much of our national health agenda is understandably dominated by heart disease and cancer, chronic conditions of the nervous system such as multiple sclerosis and motor-neurone disease also occur with high frequency in the Irish population along with neuro-psychiatric disorders such as depression, psychosis and dementia.

All pain (physical and psychological) is generated by the nervous system, further explaining its ever-growing interest to doctors, researchers and the pharmaceutical industry.