A tremendous amount of research has been performed looking at the relationship between personality and disease. Research on this topic has been spread throughout scientific journals on psychology, behavioral health, psychoneuroimmunology, oncology, and epidemiology. Personality and Disease brings this research together in one place for the first time. With contributions from world experts, the book summarizes research findings on personality as it relates to cancer, heart disease, diabetes, asthma and allergies, dementia, and more. Is there such a thing as a cancer- prone personality? Do sadness, anger, stress, or shyness affect the likelihood that we will fall ill to specific diseases? Can we protect ourselves from disease through a positive outlook? This book will address both what we know, and what we persist in believing despite evidence to the contrary, and why such beliefs persist in the face of evidence. - Investigates whether and how personality affects disease generally - Includes cancer, heart disease, diabetes, asthma, allergies, and dementia - Separates fact from fiction, evidence from beliefs - Collates research from a wide variety of scientific domains - Contains international perspectives from top scholars

The original and creative analyses presented in this work represent a new understanding of the exciting field of personality and disease. Contributors offer current research findings and their experienced opinions on the relationship that exists between personality and disease in a clear, comprehensive fashion. Among the topics covered are models of linkages between personality and disease, stress and illness, individual differences and health--gender, coping and stress. Personality and social factors or and how they affect the outcome of cancer, are also discussed. The exploration and examination of the issues presented here are extremely valuable and will have a major impact on future research and practice.

There has been a recent resurgence of interest in personality psychology and its applications. This book is organised in three parts: personality and health outcomes; mechanisms relating personality and health; personality specific prevention and intervention. It covers child and adolescence health behaviour as well as that of adults and integrates new developments within personality psychology (such as neurophysiology and temperamental traits) with health psychology and examines major health outcomes such as disease, the mechanisms between these outcomes and personality, and prevention and intervention programmes.

Most health research to date has been pursued within the confines of scientific disciplines that are guided by their own targeted questions and research strategies. Although useful, such inquiries are inherently limited in advancing understanding the interplay of wide-ranging factors that shape human health. The Oxford Handbook of Integrative Health Science embraces an integrative approach that seeks to put together sociodemographic factors (age, gender, race, socioeconomic status) known to contour rates of morbidity and mortality with psychosocial factors (emotion, cognition, personality, well-being, social connections), behavioral factors (health practices) and stress exposures (caregiving responsibilities, divorce, discrimination) also known to influence health. A further overarching theme is to explicate the biological pathways through which these various effects occur. The biopsychosocial leitmotif that inspires this approach demands new kinds of studies wherein wide-ranging assessments across different domains are assembled on large population samples. The MIDUS (Midlife in the U.S.) national longitudinal study exemplifies such an integrative study, and all findings presented in this collection draw on MIDUS. The way the study evolved, via collaboration of scientists working across disciplinary lines, and its enthusiastic reception from the scientific community are all part of the larger story told. Embedded within such tales are important advances in the identification of key protective or vulnerability factors: these pave the way for practice and policy initiatives seeking to improve the nation's health.

With breakthroughs in understandings of the disease prone and self-healing personalities Dr. Howard S. Friedman gives his answers to important questions. Why are certain people more likely to achieve health than other, seemingly similar, people? How can one increase their chances of preserving their health? What are the health effects of our chronic mood states? How are heart disease, cancer, arthritis, and other diseases related to personality? How can the disease-prone personality be altered? The answers to these questions are emerging from an exciting new interdisciplinary health science, and The Self-Healing Personality is the authoritative source for understanding state-of-the-art findings that can allow you to enhance your capacity for a long and healthy life. "A really important book! We must empower individuals to preserve their own health. This book should be read by everyone wanting an elegant, understandable explanation of the latest scientific findings." —Dr. Margaret Chesney, President, Health Psychology Division, American Psychological Association

This book covers the whole range of personality dysfunction, following the new ICD-11 classification of personality disorder.