Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Praise for Stress Management

"The author is correct in saying that the stress management field is a ′soft′ one, lacking a strong theoretical foundation, and therefore lacking good studies of efficacy and long term outcome. Certainly any publication that would improve on this situation is to be welcomed. . . . Strengths are the systematic approach to the topic. The attempt to ground scientifically the issue of stress management will appeal greatly to the more discerning student of clinical psychology and applied health psychology. It will provide a sufficiently academic approach to the topic that it will find acceptance in courses on the topic."

-William R. Lovallo, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center & Director, Behavioral Sciences Laboratory, VA Medical Centers, Oklahoma City

Most of the literature on stress management describes and evaluates individual stress responses but lacks a critical view of the scientific foundation of stress. In order to truly comprehend stress management, there needs to be clear understanding on the phenomenon that is "to be managed."

Stress Management: From Basic Science to Better Practice examines documented pathways between stress and health and develops the scientific foundations for sound interventions. The book begins with a broad review of the term ′stress′and its importance for health. The text then provides a critical examination of the elements of the stress process, extracts supporting research for a rationale of stress management and describes various stress management techniques and their effectiveness.

In Stress Management, author and renowned stress researcher Wolfgang Linden reviews the literature on intervention outcomes, noting weaknesses that include an overemphasis on individual rather than societal responsibility for stress and coping and disregard of the emerging field of positive psychology. The author concludes the text with a proposed distinction between psychotherapy and stress management, and he proposes the need for three distinguishable subtypes of stress management programs-a systematic-preventative approach; a broad-based stress vaccination and prevention type of protocol; and a reactive, problem-solving type of stress reduction intervention.

Key Features

Stress Managementis an excellent textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses, such as Stress Management, Stress & Coping, Stress & Health, and Stress & Wellness, in the fields of Psychology and Health. The book is also a valuable resource for researchers and clinicians within the behavioral sciences interested in understanding and alleviating stress.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface
• 1 Stress: Definitions and Pathways to Disease
• Scientific and popular definitions
• How can stress be measured?
• A history of models for stress and health
• Understanding stress responsivity
• "Take-Home Messages" that are pertinent to stress management
• 2 Elements of the Stress Process and Implications for Stress Management
• A model of the stress process, its major components and moderating variables
• Stressors and stressor properties of relevance for stress management
• Predispositions
• Coping skills: Cognitions and behaviors
• Buffers
• Physiological stress response: Recovery or exhaustion
• Implications of basic stress research for intervention protocols
• 3 Descriptions, Rationales, and Outcomes of Stress Management Interventions
• Descriptions
• Rationales and outcomes
• Review of the effects of specific techniques, rationales, and outcomes
• Stress management effects for specific populations
• Stress management effects on specific endpoints
• Summary of the effects of stress management
• 4 Now What? A Summary, Reflections, and Recommendations
• Major conclusions
• Defining stress management and questioning rationales
• What about the needed, shared definition for stress management?
• Reflections on communication
• Effective ingredients and delivery modes for stress management
• Action plan
• References
• About the Author
• Author Index
• Subject Index