ABSTRACT
Psychological phenomena emerge from the complex interaction between systems in the body and the brain. The body image exists in the neocortex, which is the outer layer of the brain. It is a process involving the deep brain, the skeletal frame, the muscular system, and all bodily activities. The neocortex is a highly sophisticated entity that collects, assembles, associates, analyses, and stores data provided by sensory organs. The subcortical nervous system or primitive brain is closely connected with the hormonal and immune systems, our emotions and instincts. 1 52There is continuous interaction between the neocortex and the primitive brain. Information travels along the spinal cord and reaches the hypothalamus, which controls the autonomic nervous system (Luria, 1973). The hypothalamus is closely connected with the limbic system and together they form the locus of emotional centres. They form a complex network that can be conceived as a “primal adaptive system”. The right hemisphere in particular contains an integrated map of the bodily state and plays a primary role in the regulation of fundamental physiological and hormonal functions. Since the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenocortical axis and the sympathetic system are both under the control of the right cerebral cortex, this hemisphere is thus primarily involved in the survival functions that enable the organism to cope with stress.
