ABSTRACT
It is often said that stress is a feature of modern life. Therefore, stress management unsurprisingly is a bandwagon which is rapidly gaining momentum. Most airports and supermarkets display numerous books and articles on how to cope and how to succeed. It is very easy to find a self-help book which provides very practical advice on how to overcome stress, marital problems, alcoholism or all of these together. There are shelves full of paperbacks on how to succeed in management and how to delegate, with a strong emphasis on how to succeed without stress and without really trying. This is all well and good; but what has been published that will help the young, lively, questioning researcher who has great expectations but a lack of practical experience? As far as we know the answer is very little. The avowed aim of this chapter is therefore to provide what has come to be known as a ‘brief intervention’ which might help to prevent learned helplessness.
