Mastery of Stress

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This book, about a series of experiments conducted on a group 26 of Harvard undergraduates, focuses on the way these “healthy” students reacted to certain new and difficult stress-inducting situations. Each man’s emotional and physiological reactions were studied, with emphasis placed on two phases of the stress reactions—the acute immediate emergency reaction, and the ability or failure to master stress over a period of time.

The authors believe that the two great aspects of stress reactions are those related to the individual and those related to the cultural and social strains within society which impinge upon him. Accordingly, the results of personality studies—the concept of parent role, the concept of self, the ability to assess reality, and social attitudes—were discussed in relation to the results.

Believing that “coming events cast their shadows before,” the investigators, who led a large interdisciplinary team, feel that the manner in which individuals handle stress in the laboratory indicates the way in which they handle real-life stresses. Thus, they hope that this study may aid in the important work of preventive psychiatry.