Stress and Health is the only book on the biology of psychological stress for students and researchers in the behavioural sciences. It is an excellent textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate students studying the relationship between stress and health in psychology, physiology, behavioural medicine, nursing, the neurosciences, and related fields.

Chapter 1: Psychosocial Models of Health and Disease The Standard Biomedical Model and New Approaches to Medicine A Biobehavioral Model of Disease and Treatment Placebo Effects Psychoneuroimmunology Cultural, Intrapersonal, and Physiological Influences in Coronary Heart Disease Psychosocial Theories of Disease and Treatment The Foundation of Behavioral Medicine Chapter 2: History of the Concept of Stress The Age of Enlightenment and the Emergence of Scientific Thought Descartes and the Mechanical Model of Living Things The Worldview and Premises of Modern Science The Mind-Body problem Claude Bernard and the Modern Biomedical Model Claude Bernard and the Vitalists Walter Cannon Definition of Stress Hans Selye The Concept of Allostasis Additional Considerations on the Stress Concept Chapter 3: Homeostatic Regulation: Normal Function and Stress Responses A Hierarchy of Homeostatic Controls Intrinsic Control Mechanisms Autonomic Controls Over Homeostasis Three Autonomic Divisions Coordinated Actions of the Autonomic Branches Higher Controls Over Homeostasis The Hypothalamus and Emotional Expression Endocrine Responses During Stress Adrenomedullary Response Adrenocortical Response Negative Feedback by Cortisol Cortisol During Stress Beta-endorphin Chapter 4: Physical and Psychological Stress Classes of Stress Responses The Exercise Response Exercise and Adaptation to Stress The Fight-or-Flight Response Different Emotions and Motivations Accompany Exercise and the Fight–Flight Response Why Is Exercise Considered Good If It Is a Stressor? Psychological Stress The Responses to Aversive and Nonaversive Challenges Exposure to Noise and Shock Activation and Distress Chapter 5: Central Nervous System Integration of the Psychological Stress Response Appraisals, Psychological Stress, and Negative Emotions Primary and Secondary Appraisals Outcomes of Coping Efforts and Physiological Responses Central Integration of the Response to Psychological Stress The Limbic System and Associated Parts of the Brain Primary Appraisals: Sensory Intake and Interpretation of the Environment What Is It? And Where Is It? Cognition and Emotion: Generating Emotions Based on Appraisal Processes Prefrontal-Limbic Interactions and Thoughts and Feelings Secondary Appraisals: How Well Did Our Coping Attempt Work? Physiological Correlates of Primary and Secondary Appraisal Processes Internal Sources of Amygdaloid Activity and Internally Generated Emotional Responses Initiation of Behavioral, Autonomic, and Neuroendocrine Responses to Psychological Stressors Feedback to the Cortex and Limbic System: The Central Feedback Subsystem Autonomic and Endocrine Outflow: The Emotional Response Subsystem Chapter 6: Stress and the Endocrine System Overview of Stress Endocrine Regulation Activation of Stress Endocrine Secretion and the Central Corticotropin-Releasing Factor System Cortisol’s Feedback Actions in the Central Nervous System Cortisol Effects on Frontal-Limbic Activity Amygdala Responses to Cortisol and Altered Responsivity of the Central Nervous System Amygdala Sensitization and Potential Implications for Health The Hypothalamic-Sympatho-Adrenomedullary Axis Stress Endocrine Secretion and Regulation of Long-Term Stress Reactivity Hierarchy of Autonomic and Endocrine Controls Over Homeostasis Leading to Long-Term Memory Formation Recap: How Ideas Come to Have Power Over Our Bodies Chapter 7: The Immune System Stress and Behavior Overview of the Immune System Structural Components of the Immune System Immune System Cells Immune System Messengers Innate Resistance Acquired Immunity and Establishment of Immune System Memory The Behavior-Immune Interface Behavior-Immune Interactions and Health Indicators Stress Buffers, Positive Emotions, and Physical Health Chapter 8: Helplessness Coping and Health Death Due to Uncontrollable Stress Helplessness and Exposure to Uncontrollable Stress Studies of Ulceration in Rats “Learned Helplessness” and the Consequences of Lack of Control Lazarus’s Model of Psychological Stress and Helplessness Central Neurotransmitters and Severe Stress Uncontrollable Shock, Norepinephrine, and Depression Serotonin Mechanisms Emotions and Health Chapter 9: Genes, Stress, and Behavior Early Life Experience, Epigenetic Programming of Gene Expression, and Stress Reactivity A Rat Model of Early Experience, Development, and Responses to Stress Maternal Separation and Neglect Nurturing by Rat Mothers is Increased by Brief Separation Genotype, Genetic Vulnerability to Early Life Adversity, and Psychobehavioral Outcomes in Humans Chapter 10: Individual Differences in Reactivity to Stress A Proposed Classification of Individual Differences in Reactivity Persons May Differ in Stress Reactivity Because of Inborn Factors or Experience Individual Differences in Stress Responses May be Conditioned by Functional Alterations at Three Levels in the System Individual Differences in Evaluative and Emotional Processes—Level I Individual Differences in Hypothalamic and Brainstem Responses to Stress—Level II Individual Differences in Peripheral Responses to Stress—Level III Chapter 11: Health Implications of Exaggerated and Blunted Stress Reactivity Reactivity Tests in Medicine Health Outcomes Related to Exaggerated Cardiovascular and Endocrine Reactivity Individual Differences in Level I Reactivity and Health Implications Individual Differences in Level II Reactivity: Cardiovascular Reactivity as a Mediator of Disease Risk Individual Differences in Level III Reactivity and Disease Blunted Stress Reactivity and Health Early Life Adversity and Blunted Stress Reactivity Early Life Adversity, Psychological Characteristics, Cognition, and Behavioral Regulation Early Life Adversity and Low Versus High Stress Reactivity: Unanswered Questions Blunted Stress Reactivity, Social Adversity, and Health Discussion Exaggerated Reactivity and Disease Blunted Reactivity and Disease Family Dysfunction, Socioeconomic Status, Neighborhood Characteristics, and Health Outcomes Chapter 12: Behavior, Stress, and Health The Historical Dilemma of Mind-Body Dualism Matter and Behavior Behavioral Medicine in Relation to Traditional Medicine Systems Organization and Stress Psychological Stress and Its Consequences Stress and Behavioral Medicine Stress, Stress Reduction, and Improved health