ABSTRACT
The strongest evidence that environmentally induced stress can produce adverse changes in health, including mental health, comes from studies of extreme situations. Fortunately, relatively few individuals in most societies are ever exposed to severe stress experiments, natural disasters or extremely severe combat situations. Brown's indictment of the 'dictionary' nature of event lists of the Holmes and Rahe type, however, is another matter. There are a number of objective characteristics of life events apart from how they are perceived, that most investigators in this field would agree are important in interpreting their possible causal significance and the basis for their stressfulness. Criticism of Brown's method has focused on the most important measure it has produced, that of contextual threat. In conclusion, the approach the people are advocating should be seen as a development of the events list method and its normative ratings.
