This volume contains contributions presented at the Fourth Internatio nal Workshop on Psychosocial Stress and Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) held in Hoehenried near Munich in July, 1979. The workshop was organized in order to continue and enlarge upon recent discussions concerning empirical evidence and convergence in the field of stress and CHD. Proceedings of the three previous workshops were published in German by Springer-Verlag. The main topic of the 1978 conference was the present state of research in the field of type A behavior and CHD. In addition and in a certain contrast, this...

The widespread interest in "stressful" aspects of contemporary society which contribute to its burden of illness and diseases (e.g. gastro intestinal, cardiovascular) has led to a large number of state- ments and reports which relate the manifestations to a maladaptation of the individual. Furthermore, recent research suggests that under some condi tions stress may have a more generalized effect of decreasing the body's ability to combat destructive forces and expose it to a variety of diseases. Breakdown in adaptation occurs when an individual cannot cope with demands inherent in his...