Further Reading — Chapter 12: Stress and Resilience

Annotated resources for deeper exploration. Items marked with ★ are especially recommended as starting points.

Foundational Books

★ Sapolsky, R. M. (1994). Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers. Freeman. The most accessible and entertaining account of the biology of stress and its health consequences. Sapolsky's writing is exceptional — scientifically rigorous, genuinely funny, and clear. Covers the HPA axis, the effects of social hierarchy on stress, and the psychological factors that modulate physical health outcomes. Essential reading.

★ Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, Appraisal, and Coping. Springer. The foundational academic text introducing the transactional model of stress and the problem-focused/emotion-focused coping distinction. More technical than popular accounts but accessible and important for anyone who wants to understand the framework at its source.

Kabat-Zinn, J. (1990). Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness. Delacorte. The foundational text on Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) — a highly-researched, eight-week structured program that significantly reduces stress, anxiety, depression, and chronic pain. Practical, accessible, and extensively supported by clinical research.

On Resilience

★ Bonanno, G. A. (2004). Loss, trauma, and human resilience: Have we underestimated the human capacity to thrive after extremely aversive events? American Psychologist, 59(1), 20–28. The landmark paper establishing the prevalence of the resilience trajectory after major adversity. Readable and provocative. The paper that substantially revised clinical assumptions about "normal" grief and trauma responses.

Bonanno, G. A. (2009). The Other Side of Sadness: What the New Science of Bereavement Tells Us About Life After Loss. Basic Books. Bonanno's accessible account of his research on resilience after loss. Covers the four trajectories, the evidence for pervasive human resilience, and the implications for how we understand and support grieving people.

Masten, A. S. (2001). Ordinary magic: Resilience processes in development. American Psychologist, 56(3), 227–238. The paper that introduced the concept of resilience as "ordinary magic" — the finding that resilience is not exceptional but rather the common expression of basic human adaptive systems. Accessible and important for understanding resilience as process rather than trait.

On Post-Traumatic Growth

Tedeschi, R. G., & Calhoun, L. G. (1996). The Posttraumatic Growth Inventory: Measuring the positive legacy of trauma. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 9(3), 455–471. The paper introducing the PTG Inventory and the five-domain framework. Accessible and practical.

Tedeschi, R. G., & Calhoun, L. G. (2004). Posttraumatic growth: Conceptual foundations and empirical evidence. Psychological Inquiry, 15(1), 1–18. A comprehensive overview of the PTG research base — what it is, what predicts it, what conditions support it. Well-organized and accessible.

On Social Support

House, J. S., Landis, K. R., & Umberson, D. (1988). Social relationships and health. Science, 241(4865), 540–545. The landmark paper establishing social isolation as a major public health risk factor comparable in magnitude to smoking. Brief, accessible, and historically significant.

Cohen, S. (2004). Social relationships and health. American Psychologist, 59(8), 676–684. A comprehensive review of the social support and health literature. Covers the mechanisms (buffering effects, physiological pathways) and the evidence across multiple health outcomes. Clear and well-organized.

On Coping

Carver, C. S., Scheier, M. F., & Weintraub, J. K. (1989). Assessing coping strategies: A theoretically based approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56(2), 267–283. The paper introducing the COPE inventory — a comprehensive measure of coping strategies. Important for understanding the range of coping strategies available and their evidence base.

Park, C. L., & Folkman, S. (1997). Meaning in the context of stress and coping. Review of General Psychology, 1(2), 115–144. Park and Folkman's account of meaning-based coping — the third category beyond problem-focused and emotion-focused. Accessible and practically important.

Accessible General Reading

★ McGonigal, K. (2015). The Upside of Stress: Why Stress Is Good for You, and How to Get Good at It. Avery. An accessible and well-researched account of the emerging evidence that how people think about stress affects its health consequences. Covers the challenge vs. threat appraisal, the benefits of eustress, and the evidence that a "stress-is-bad" belief is itself harmful. A useful corrective to the entirely negative framing of stress.

Siebert, A. (2005). The Resiliency Advantage: Master Change, Thrive Under Pressure, and Bounce Back from Setbacks. Berrett-Koehler. A practical guide to resilience development — grounded in research but written for general readers. Covers the specific skills and practices that support resilience across multiple life domains.

van der Kolk, B. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Viking. The landmark account of trauma's effects on the body and nervous system. Goes well beyond this chapter into clinical territory (PTSD, somatic therapies) but provides important depth on the physiological dimension of stress and resilience. Relevant to Chapters 15, 32, and 34 as well.