ABSTRACT
This chapter is devoted to the topic of stress and to the consideration of the potential link between stress and ill health. It starts by considering the concept of stress and then move on to the biological mechanisms of the stress response, and how these mechanisms may affect health and wellbeing. The chapter introduces the concept of psychoneuroimmunology and the link between stress and immune functioning, drawing on evidence and examples from literature. It also considers how stress can indirectly affect health through behaviours such as illness behaviours and health behaviours such as smoking. Early models of stress were based around experiments of the physiological mechanisms of the stress response. The direct pathway between stress and illness comes from the prolonged chronic stress response, which produces a prolonged production of epinephrine and cortisol. Human relationships are really important and there is a wealth of literature on the topic of social support and the way that it buffers the stress response.
