Handbook of Stressful Transitions Across the Lifespan

The modern life cycle is characterized by stressful transitions, when unexpected events—and even many expected ones—challenge people’s functioning, health, and sense of self-worth. The international, multidisciplinary perspectives provided in the __Handbook of Stressful Transitions Across the Lifespan__ cover these periods as they occur through youth, adulthood, and aging, bringing together theoretical and clinical findings, case studies, and literature reviews in one authoritative volume. A diverse panel of clinicians, researchers, and educators focuses on the psychological, biological, cultural and spiritual factors surrounding not only trauma and loss but also coping and growth, risk and mitigating factors, and promising interventions. Whether topics are just beginning to receive in-depth attention (the first job; becoming adoptive parents), ongoing issues requiring new insights (veterans’ adjustment to civilian life; chronic illness), or emerging concepts (trauma growth; animal-assisted therapy), coverage is well-written, engaging, and eminently useful. A sampling of the topics featured in the Handbook: * The developmental neurobiology of stress. * The long-term effects of divorce on children. * Self-regulation across life transitions. * Money in (E)motion: stressful financial transitions. * The influence of food on adapting to life stressors. * The transition to retirement as a stressful event. With its comprehensive scope and wealth of data, the __Handbook of Stressful Transitions Across the Lifespan__ will appeal to a variety of professional readers, including researchers and scholars in the fields of social, developmental and clinical psychology, sociology, and public health. Part I. Processing transitions in the life span -- Life stress and transitions in the life span / T.W. Miller -- Life transitions and stress in the context of psychosocial development / J.E. Marcia -- The neurobiology of stress throughout the life cycle / J. Kay -- Life as a source of theory : Erik Erikson's contributions, boundaries, and marginalities / J.J. Clark -- Part II. Education and career transitions -- College-to-workplace transitions : becoming a freshman again / P.I. Hettich -- Coping with job transitions over the work life / J.R. Rudisill, et al. -- Transitioning into retirement as a stressful life event / T.F. Holcomb -- Part III. Marriage, family, and sexual life cycle transitions -- Family transitions following natural and terrorist disaster : Hurricane Hugo and the September 11 terrorist attack / C.L. Cohan -- The transition to adoptive parenthood / A.E. Goldberg -- Transitioning the impact of divorce on children throughout the life cycle / B. Barczak, et al. -- Stress, mindful parenting, and the transition to adulthood / J.J. Chadwick -- Sexual transitions in the lives of adult women / E. Koert, J.C. Daniluk -- Family and spousal adaptation to transitioning a traumatic event / T.W. Miller, C. Dunn, Ila Patel -- Part IV. Legal, ethical, and financial transitions -- Ethical and legal issues in transitioning the lifespan / S. Nisenbaum, M.C. Weiss, D. Shapiro -- Money in (e)motion experienced in stressful financial transitions / J.V. Boardman -- Assessing, moderating, and modifying implicit cognitive processes in alcohol and drug misuse in transitioning adulthood / M. Krank -- Part V. Life threatening transitions in maturation and health -- Life stress and managing transitions unanticipated change of course : the diagnosis of chronic progressive neurological disease / W.D. Weitzel, J.K. Carney -- Transitions throughout the cancer experience : diagnosis, treatment, survivorship, and end of life / D.A. Brockopp, et al. -- Loss of the safety signal in childhood and adolescent trauma / T.W. Miller, A. Beane -- An unexpected traumatic change in life : where to go from here? / R. Welsh, et al. -- The role of self-awareness and communication in issues of health and aging / J.P. Fox -- Part VI. Cultural, religious, and spiritual influences in life's transitions -- Self-regulation across some life transitions / K. Lacković-Grgin, Z. Penezić -- Time, culture, and life-cycle changes of social goals / H.H. Fung, T.M.Y. Siu -- Refugees' life transitions from displacement to durable resettlement / M.-A. Sossou -- Religious worldviews and stressful encounters : reciprocal influence from a meaning-making perspective / C.L. Park, D. Edmondson, M.A. Mills -- Life stress buffer : the salubrious role of African-centered spirituality / E.A. Wheeler -- Part VII. Directions and interventions in stressful life transitions -- Surviving and thriving : how transition psychology may apply to mass traumas and changes / Dai Williams -- Posttraumatic growth : a positive consequence of trauma / C.M. Lindstrom, K.N. Triplett -- Psychological impact of genetic testing / D.T. Miller -- Functional fitness, life stress, and transitions across the life span / J. Nyland, J.D. Abbott -- Nutrition through the life span : needs and health concerns in critical periods / J.Z. Ilich, R.A. Brownbill -- The role of animals and animal-assisted therapy in stressful life transitions / J.M. Miller Adams -- The role of humor in transforming stressful life events / C.C. Kuhn, M.R. Nichols, B.L. Belew -- Concluding comments and future considerations for stressful life events and transitions across the life span / T.W. Miller. This volume provides a unique and valuable contribution to our understanding of the impact of stressful life events and mass trauma on the person, the culture and society in the course of the life span. It provides a comprehensive look at our psychological state of affairs at the beginning of the twenty-first century. There are several volumes that address some or most of these areas indivi- ally but this volume is unique in that it has brought together theoreticians, researchers and clinicians who address critical challenges in our lives. But we are now several months into the global financial crisis requiring a transition, not only for the western world but for the third world. How on earth do families in trauma zones – from Sri Lanka to Afghanistan, New Orleans to Gaza – cope with similar declining older relatives, with added traumas and zero medical resources attempt to survive? In news reports, politicians and financiers denying the inevitable and struggling for solutions that cannot be relevant to the new reality that they have yet to discover. Provides perspectives on the stressful transitions across the lifespan, this book discusses the transitions and balances theoretical knowledge with practical applications from transitions in health, adulthood and aging, to spirituality and cultural influences in the life cycle. It is suitable for mental health researchers and professionals. An international and multidisciplinary core of clinicians, physicians, counsellors, educators, and researchers provide perspectives on the subject and scope of the stressful aspects of transitions in the life span. Transitions are discussed in depth, and the book balances theoretical knowledge with practical applications This volume demonstrates how learned helplessness develops and operates, and how it can lead to depression, anxiety, childhood failures, lack of motivation, and in extreme cases, sudden death. The author offers help suggesting that depressed adults and children can "unlearn" helplessness An authority on cognitive psychology and motivation documents the positive effects of optimism on the quality of life and provides a program of specific exercises designed to break the pessimism habit while developing an optimistic outlook. Reissue. Controllability -- Experimental Studies -- Theory: Cure And Immunization -- Depression -- Anxiety And Unpredictability -- Emotional Development And Education -- Death. Martin E. P. Seligman. Includes Indexes. Bibliography: P. 206-235. Compiles scientific evidence that optimism is vital to overcoming defeat and exhibits how readers can learn the habit of optimism necessary for a successful and happy life A leading expert on motivation demonstrates that optimism is essential for a good and successful life -- and shows you how to acquire it