Nothing is more complicated than stress. No single volume provides a more balanced and substantive range of theoretical and research articles and chapters devoted to clinical aspects of stress and stress management. The authors/editors wisely warn in chapter one about "Stress Research at a Crossroads." Any professional involved in researching or clinically treating forms of stress knows all too well that stress research is multiplying exponentially and that as the body of information is expanding it is also diversifying and dovetailing with similar topics such as emotion, neurology, physiology and even physics and linguistics. Given, then, that no volume - let alone one that attempts to maintain a substantive input by the classical pioneers such as Selye, Lazarus, Janis and Meichenbaum among many others - can keep up with the research, this one constitutes a masterful, one-stop basic text for integrating the rich underpinnings that launched the stress revolution. The three major strengths of this book that keep it almost constantly on my desktop are its rich classical/historical content (just where exactly did we get the ideas of "eustress and distress"?), the expansive range of topics ranging from medicine and emotion to psychological measurement, diagnosis, and environment, and its applicability to a wide array of practical clinical applications including social turmoil (the Holocaust, migration of populations, HIV), treatment modalities and links to overall physical health. This classic text is the springboard handbook for any professional who makes a living trying to understand or apply stress theory to helping people change, or addressing the social context in which people live.

"The mystery of the rescue phenomenon will probably always elude us. As the recuers' narratives in this remarkable volume shows, the acts of saving Jews seemed spontaneous and natural, and thus the mystery of the rescue act begins to unravel radiantly. The insights which this interdiciplinary collection of sessays subtly pieces together show in unique fashion the preconditions, or the possibilties, of collective courage." DENNIS B. KLEIN

PLEASE Note: Unlike what it sais above, this book is available again. It is NOT out of print!