First published in 1987. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

First published in 1987. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

First multi-year cumulation covers six years: 1965-70.

Overlooked in the early accounts was that all organisms face many additional types of natural challenges and obstacles in their efforts to survive and reproduce: for example, they must fight or escape predators, replenish diminished food supplies, and anticipate, seasonal changes of climate. Weiner's survey of the literature shows that much progress has been made in understanding the effects of exposing animals to these kinds of naturally occurring stressful experiences and their varied outcomes. Under such conditions there appear patterns of integrated behavioral and physiological responses that are exquisitely attuned to the experience. He carefully assesses the research on the ways in which neural circuits and peptidergic mechanisms in the brain generate and integrate these patterns. In addition, he presents new concepts about the perturbation of subsystems, including biological clocks, which may, or may not, lead to disease or ill-health.

Smoking, diet, stress, coping, and exercise, among other behaviors and psychological states, are now clearly implicated in the development of cardiovascular diseases. Prevention, based largely on altering behaviors that contribute to this chronic disease, is now as important a goal as is treatment of those already afflicted. This volume, based on a recent meeting of the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research, addresses several important areas of research in the general area of cardiovascular disease. The topics covered reflect on important aspects of this phenomenon, such as the long-term development of coronary artery disease; central nervous system (CNS) regulation of blood pressure, heart rate, and sympathetic tone playing a pivotal role in sympathetic activity and hypertension; learned blood pressure modulation and baroreceptor activation as a means of reducing the aversiveness of stress or noxious stimulation; and the notion that symptoms of heart disease or infarction may occur in the absence of organic heart disease. Having been impressed by the recent advances in the field, the editors of this book capture the wealth of newly acquired knowledge about behavioral factors in cardiovascular disease and how the body's nervous, endocrine, and cardiovascular systems work together.

This volume presents chapters by leading figures researching the various pathways by which stress may interfere with health maintenance and contribute to disease etiology and progression. Their work focuses on direct effects of stress on the immune and endocrine systems, on behavioral factors in diseases such as cancer and diabetes, and with the general role of stress in illness processes.