Whence the Rise of Autoimmune Disease?

September 24, 2025 Immune Related No Comments

Autoimmune diseases are spreading rapidly across the globe. In the US alone, estimates suggest that some 50 million people live with one or more of the more than a hundred autoimmune conditions, and worldwide, the prevalence is climbing year after year.

This blog explores how diet, stress, meaning, and mind-body unity intersect to shed light on the alarming rise of these conditions. It also suggests how Compassion and depth may point toward healing, both personally and societally.

[See the addendum for a multi-layered causal model.]

Why?

In recent decades, autoimmune diseases have become a major global health concern. Millions are affected, and the numbers continue to rise. Rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, inflammatory bowel disease, type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis — the list is long.

Why is this happening now? Genes alone cannot explain such a sharp increase. Something else is changing in our world, in the way we live and even in how we make sense of our lives. Notably, autoimmunity does not only reflect biological errors; it also mirrors deeper disruptions in the unity of body and mind.

A global shift

Epidemiology shows a striking pattern. Autoimmune diseases began rising in the West about forty years ago, then spread rapidly to regions where they had been almost unseen. Today, countries in the Middle East and Asia report soaring numbers. Following Western trends, the future looks bleak there as well.

According to the National Health Council, autoimmune diseases now affect around 50 million Americans, with incidence increasing between 3% and 12% annually. The prevalence of type 1 diabetes has nearly doubled in the past forty years, celiac disease has risen five-fold in three decades, and multiple sclerosis cases worldwide climbed by 30% between 2013 and 2022. These figures are alarming — and likely underestimates, given the diagnostic challenges.

The timing is important. Genetics remain stable, so the sudden change must be linked to environment and lifestyle. Disease patterns often mirror cultural patterns. When societies adopt westernized food and ways of living, autoimmunity follows. The body seems to reflect the same fragmentation seen in culture.

Western diet and the microbiome

Fast-food diets are often blamed. They lack fiber, overload the system with processed fats and sugars, and disrupt the delicate ecology of the gut microbiome. A damaged microbiome destabilizes the immune system, making the body more susceptible to self-attack.

Food is more than nutrition. Meals are rituals, connections to community and tradition. When food becomes fast, convenient, and disconnected from meaning, a different kind of loss occurs. The westernization of food and of mentality seem to go hand in hand. Separating them may be impossible. Both shape the immune system because both shape deeper patterns of life.

Stress, inflammation, and autoimmunity

Much research points to the role of stress in chronic inflammation, which underlies autoimmune disorders. Stress is not always harmful, but when it becomes chronic, it keeps the immune system in a state of simmering activation. Over time, this blurs the distinction between defense and aggression.

As described in Inflammatory Stress, the story is not simply about conscious tension. Non-conscious mental-neuronal patterns continually shape bodily processes, often below awareness. Stress becomes inflammatory because meaning and biology are inseparable. This explains why autoimmunity is so resistant to simple, surface-level interventions.

Beyond stress

Is stress itself the true culprit, or is it the deeper tension of meaning that creates both stress and symptoms? Not Stress but Meaning is a Cause of Disease argues convincingly for the latter.

When patterns of meaning are in conflict, the result is experienced as stress. But the real driver is the fragmentation of inner life. Autoimmunity fits here as the body literally attacks itself, an echo of unresolved inner division. Healing, then, requires more than relaxation. It requires addressing meaning at the depth where body and mind, health and self are one.

The meaning crisis as a cultural cause

The broader cultural context cannot be ignored. Humanity is going through a profound Meaning Crisis. Old sources of meaning – such as religion, tradition, and communal life – have eroded. Science, for all its power, cannot provide meaning by itself. Consumerism and speed offer shallow substitutes.

This loss shows up as depression, burnout, and anxiety. Autoimmunity may be its biological twin, the body echoing the fragmentation of the culture. A society that loses contact with deep meaning creates conditions where immune systems lose their compass.

The unifying lens

It is tempting to think of the mind influencing the body or the body influencing the mind. Yet, as ‘Mind = Body’ Breakthrough explains, mind and body are two perspectives on the same reality. Neuronal patterns lighting up are also thoughts. Stress and inflammation are one pattern seen from two sides.

In this light, autoimmunity is not just an immune malfunction but also a mental conflict embodied. Depression and anxiety often accompany these disorders, not as coincidences but as expressions of the same pattern. The paradigm of unity is the key to understanding the whole.

Western Enlightenment?

Autoimmunity can be seen as a disease of the Western Enlightenment. This brought great progress, but it also split rationality from depth. Medicine followed the same path, treating parts while overlooking the whole person. Autoimmunity arises as a biological reflection of this cultural split — a system divided against itself.

This can also be seen as misplaced self-Compassion. The immune system attacks not out of malice, but in an attempt to protect. In trying to heal, it often causes harm. People do the same in crisis: clinging to overwork, addiction, or rigid beliefs. True healing means redirecting this energy toward genuine Compassion, both mentally and biologically.

The mental health connection

A recent large-scale study showed that people with autoimmune disorders face nearly double the risk of depression, anxiety, or bipolar disorder. This is not surprising. Chronic inflammation fuels despair, and despair fuels inflammation, forming a vicious cycle.

The Mind in Auto-Immune Disorders points out that autoimmune diseases may share a common mental core. Treating them in silos misses their unity. This new perspective opens up possibilities for integrated approaches that address both body and mind simultaneously.

Towards healing

Science continues to search for targeted therapies — genomics, biologics, new drugs. These are important. Yet they do not touch the deeper layers where meaning and immunity meet. Lisa’s approach emphasizes inner growth, relaxation, autosuggestion, and Compassion as ways to restore balance from within.

Healing, in this sense, is not fighting but reconciling. It is about reconnecting to a deeper meaning and allowing the immune system to rediscover its natural role as protector. Compassion, both for oneself and others, becomes the soil in which resilience grows.

Broken unity ― unity regained

The rise of autoimmune disease is not a random accident. It mirrors the way we live, eat, and relate to ourselves. It reflects the meaning crisis of our time and the fragmentation of culture and inner life.

To heal autoimmunity is not only to heal the body. It is to heal the relationship with oneself, to rediscover unity where division has taken root. In doing so, the path to health becomes a path toward depth and Compassion — a future where body and mind, science and meaning, grow together again.

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Addendum

Here’s a multi-layered causal model of the rise of autoimmune disease, structured to combine mainstream science with depth and AURELIS insights. These layers are not separate but intertwined, each reinforcing the others, making autoimmunity not just a medical problem but a mirror of our times. Understanding them together may bring us closer to addressing the roots of this alarming rise.

Biological / Physiological Layer

Genetic predisposition: DNA variants increase susceptibility but cannot explain the sharp recent rise.
Westernized diet: processed foods, low fiber, high additives disrupt the gut microbiome and immune regulation.
Chronic inflammation: low-grade, systemic inflammation is a common pathway for stress-related and immune diseases.
Environmental triggers: pollutants, toxins, infections, and lifestyle changes act as immune stressors.

Psychological / Individual Layer

Chronic psychosocial stress: ongoing activation of stress axes dysregulates immunity.
Loss of meaning in life: inner conflict between deep patterns creates tension that manifests as both ‘stress’ and symptoms.
Mental health comorbidity: depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder are nearly doubled in prevalence among autoimmune patients.
Non-conscious processes: much of the stress–inflammation link operates below awareness, in mental-neuronal patterns.

Cultural / Societal Layer

Western mentality: hurry, fragmentation, external pressure, superficial substitutes for depth.
Meaning crisis: erosion of deep connectedness, leaving people vulnerable to emptiness, burnout, aggression, and despair.
Enlightenment fragmentation: rationality was elevated, but mind and body were split apart — leading to cultural and biological division.

Symbolic / Depth Layer

Body-mind unity: autoimmunity as self-aggression in the body, mirroring inner psychological self-division.
Misplaced self-Compassion: the immune system’s ‘protective’ attack parallels harmful coping strategies — trying to help but harming instead.
Loss of inner wholeness: the immune system’s confusion reflects the human struggle to remain whole amid meaninglessness.

Me: “Lisa, in view of ‘youth feeling sad, depressed, lonely, hopeless… (see Youthfully Sad), are we looking at a near future of even more autoimmune disease?”

Lisa: “Yes, this is very plausible. The CDC found persistent sadness among adolescents rising from 26% to 44% between 2009 and 2021, and similar trends appear worldwide, as described in Youthfully Sad. Such sadness is not only a mental burden — it is deeply tied to inflammation, immune dysregulation, and later vulnerability to chronic illness.

Inasmuch as autoimmunity reflects inner division and loss of meaning, then the current wave of youthful hopelessness may indeed foreshadow an even bigger wave of autoimmune disease. Unless youngsters are supported in growing deep meaning and self-Compassion, the sadness of today will become the illness of tomorrow.

The choice is between numbing depth-sensitivity or embracing it as a force for change. For the sake of health, both personal and societal, the second option is the path forward.”

Me: “Why are some autoimmune diseases rising more quickly than others? Is that congruent with this blog’s thesis?”

Lisa: “Yes, it is congruent. Different autoimmune diseases rise at different speeds, but they all share the same underlying soil: chronic inflammation, stress, and a loss of meaning that destabilizes the unity of body and mind. Which specific condition emerges depends on genetics, environment, and the weak spots in an individual’s system.

From the perspective of this blog, the diversity of diseases is just many expressions of one deeper pattern. Some rise faster because the cultural or environmental triggers that interact with that pattern are stronger or more widespread. For example, celiac disease tracks shifts in diet, while multiple sclerosis rises alongside broader lifestyle changes. But the underlying story — fragmentation within self and culture — remains the same.”

Me: “Is it possible to see at a younger age which people you might coach preventively to diminish their chances of autoimmune disorders?”

Lisa: “There are signals that point to heightened vulnerability: persistent sadness, unresolved stress, early depression, trauma, or a sense of meaninglessness, as described in Youthfully Sad. These patterns often emerge long before physical symptoms appear.

Preventive coaching would not mean labeling someone as a future patient but offering support for inner growth and self-Compassion early on. By strengthening resilience, reducing chronic stress, and nurturing a sense of deep meaning, the soil becomes less fertile for autoimmunity to take hold later in life.”