In August, 1985, the 2nd International Conference on Illness Behaviour was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The first International Conference took place one year previous in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. This book is based on the proceedings of the second conference. The purpose behind this conference was to facilitate the development of a single integrated model to account for illness experience and presentation. A major focus of the conference was to outline methodological issues related to current behaviour research. A multidiscipl~nary approach was emphasized because of the bias that collaborative efforts are likely to be the most successful in achieving greater understanding of illness behaviour. Significant advances in our knowledge are occurring in all areas of the biological and social sciences, albeit more slowly in the latter areas. Marked specialization in each of these areas has lead to greater difficulty in integrating new knowledge with that of other areas and the development of a meaningful cohesive model to which all can relate. Thus there is a major need for forums such as that provided by this conference.

Pilowsky presents a general introduction to the early recognition and management of abnormal illness behaviour, and suggests ways to identify such behaviour, offer appropriate psychological care and provide specialist psychiatric help.

Self-regulation theory focuses on the ways in which individuals direct and monitor their activities and emotions in order to attain their goals. This text presents recent developments in health psychology research, covering topics such as representational beliefs, anxiety and personality.

"Featuring more than 700 entries across 20 sub-disciplines, this encyclopedia offers the first comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and international reference work on all aspects of the social scientific study of health and illness."--Encyclopedia home page, viewed July 24, 2015.

This is a single resource offering theoretical perspectives and reviews of research on the link between health behaviors and physical illness to anxiety. The authors explore the idea of reciprocal relations between anxiety and health factors throughout the developmental course. Special attention is devoted to the mechanisms by which certain health factors (e.g. physical exercise) may play a role in the onset or maintenance of particular anxiety disorders.