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Unraveling Complexity

Strategies to Refine Concepts, Measures, and Research Designs in the Study of Life Events and Mental Health

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Stress and Mental Health

Part of the book series: The Springer Series on Stress and Coping ((SSSO))

Abstract

Despite literally thousands of research reports on the relationship between stressful circumstances and the onset or exacerbation of illness (Holmes, 1979), controversy remains about their importance. Some investigators claim that there is no compelling evidence for a causal association between stressful circumstances and illness outcomes. In his award-winning lecture to the American Psychopathological Association, Leonard Heston (1988) put these sentiments in strong terms, claiming that “the facts make it clear that searches for specific environmental factors external to the body juices are likely to prove dead ends. Such research has been done too long and too intensely with no result” (p. 212). According to Heston, we need to reorient the direction of our research towards a major redistribution of “human and material resources to hard ball biology” (p. 212).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Harlem Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Columbia School of Public Health/Harlem Hospital Center, New York, New York, 10037, USA

    Diane E. Mclean

  2. Division of Epidemiology, Columbia School of Public Health and Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center, Columbia University, New York, New York, 10032, USA

    Diane E. Mclean

  3. Division of Epidemiology, Columbia School of Public Health, Columbia University, USA

    Bruce G. Link

  4. Epidemiology of Brain Disorders, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York, 10032, USA

    Bruce G. Link

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  1. Diane E. Mclean
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  2. Bruce G. Link
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada

    William R. Avison

  2. Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA

    Ian H. Gotlib

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Mclean, D.E., Link, B.G. (1994). Unraveling Complexity. In: Avison, W.R., Gotlib, I.H. (eds) Stress and Mental Health. The Springer Series on Stress and Coping. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1106-3_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1106-3_2

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