A result of a conference at the University of Trier, Germany, this volume mirrors its goals: * to provide an overview of recent advances in research on critical life events and the losses associated with them * to collect and stimulate new perspectives for the analysis of these events * to compare the psychology of victims experiencing stress and losses with the psychology of observers in their reactions to victims. Designed to prevent developmental psychological myths in the area of life crises, this collection questions, on an empirical basis, the adequacy of several widespread...