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lectures > lectures spring 2002

The intelligent body: applying complexity theory to health, disease, minds, bodies and people

Speaker: Michael Hyland
11th May 2002

In this talk Michael Hyland will discuss how complexity theory provides a new way of understanding how the brain and body work. The intelligent body hypothesis proposes that the whole body, and not just the part called the brain/mind, operates as a complex intelligent system. This theory provides novel insights into what it means to be healthy and to be a well-adjusted person.

Michael Hyland is Professor of Health Psychology at the University of Plymouth. He obtained his PhD in theoretical psychology from the University of Wales in 1976, and subsequently worked on mind-body theory.
From the late 1980s he developed several quality-of-life scales which have been used as outcome tools in clinical trials and patient management programmes, focussing particularly on the management of respiratory disease.
Since 1998 he has combined complexity theory with health psychology in developing a new theoretical perspective for understanding the 'intelligent body', a perspective that is relevant to both conventional and complementary medicine.

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