p.1 I believe we are currently undergoing another paradigm shift - from causal reductionism to transactionism...
in transactionism the occurrence of an event is understood to arise from the mutual influence of a number of factors.
This paradigm shift has profound implications not only for research and clinical practice but also for the fabric of society
and how we conduct our everyday lives.
p.2 A corollary assumption underlying the reductionist model has been that of unidirectional causality -
that is, a -> b -> c. In biomedical
terms, this means that illness is caused by exposure to an agent a that disrupts the biochemical functioning system b that
in turn leads to symptoms c. These symptoms can only be abated by restoring the functioning of system b, either by eliminating
the offending agent from the body (e.g., through antibiotics) or by restoring the biochemical balance.
p.3 It became readily apparent that a simple causal model was inadequate to describe many phenomena... simple
causal models of illness are of necessity coming to be replaced by highly complex models demonstrating interaction
among multiple agents.
p.17 individual adaption needs to be understood in the context of particular environmental constraints...
a transactionist viewpoint emphasizes that the person and the environment are not independent contributors to stress
and coping but, rather, mutually affect each other for good or for ill.
p.18 the state of an individual's health reflects a dynamic interaction between environmental forces
and physiological resilience.
p.28 it is important to understand that we are hard-wired physiologically to respond to stress
and that stress responses can involve nearly every system in the body.
p.37 As noted in the preceding chapter, human bodies are "hard-wired" to respond to stress...
Indeed, the sheer number and redundancy of physiological systems designed to cope with stress suggest that the ability
to respond to stress is terribly important in adaptation.
p.71 Structural constraints refer to problems in the social environment that can result in resource
deprivation and restriction of choice.
p.288 Perhaps Rutter's (1981) admonition on children and stress is instructive here. In his longitudinal
studies of children's reaction to stress, Rutter found that most children were fairly resilient
and could readily rebound from experiencing a major adverse life event. However, with multiple adverse
events, or when a life event was coupled with other adverse circumstances such as poverty, poorer long-term outcomes were
more likely
p.313 stress can be seen as a catalyst that brings to the forefront important developmental issues
that can be coped with more or less "successfully," if "success" can be defined as increasing capacity to cope with
future stress and to develop characteristics important to adult development
p.326 Resilience is defined as "a dynamic developmental process reflecting evidence
of positive adaptation despite significant life adversity" (Cichetti, 2003
p.327 A nearly universal finding is that children with a higher level of intelligence, generally assessed
through IQs, are more likely to be resilient. This makes a great deal of sense. More intelligent children are more likely
to develop better and more realistic coping strategies.
p.330 Rutter (1987) emphasized that resilience to stress should be viewed as a
process, a person-environment interaction, rather than as a characteristic of the
individual per se.
p.332 Physical thriving is defined here as any physiological changes brought about as a result of
facing stressors that leave one with greater physiological resilience than she or he had before facing adversity...
physical thriving can refer both to enhanced health and to one's health status above the expected baseline in response to
a stressor.
