Stacey B. Day – författare

This book has been well received in many places and in many countries. It was awarded a ranking in the top ten publications on behavioral medicine in the year that it first appeared. When, in 1977, we began to fit the components of Cancer, Stress, and Death together, the established medical view was that each subject repre­ sented a different discipline, and that to integrate fields so diverse in information content was to seek to achieve a synthesis beyond reasonable limits. Had we been required to concern ourselves with the knowledge of each component in its entirety, this might have been so, but our concern, of course, was to integrate only those items of knowledge in any one field that could bear upon the field of interest of another. Moreover, we were concerned that physi­ cians and scientists take account of the inner forces that shape motivation and individual behavior, as well as the cultural identity of individuals, and we hoped that the biopsychosocial way in which we believed would gain ground and win support. Now, with need for a second edition, one can hardly conceive of not bringing together diverse contributions in one volume. Such syntheses as we have made clearly confirm that one can arrive at several levels of understanding of human situations through wise integration of biological paradigms within various social, cultural, and psychological parameters-which essentially is a simple way of defining the biopsychosocial way.

Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes was once asked, "When should the training of a child commence?" "A hundred years before birth" was the reply. Indeed it is this perspective on life through posterity that underlies the maturing field of international health, embracing as it does a respon­ sibility for and an awareness of the needs of all peoples. The concepts of international health are increasingly revitalizing modern medicine as it attempts to relieve mankind of the burden of disease. Curative medicine, once the paradigm, took a relatively benefi­ cient approach to treatment. But epidemiological recognition of the fre­ quency of disease on a global basis-and an appreciation of the vast number of those afflicted-evoked a humiliating backlash of awareness that curative medicine alone neither constrains disease nor permanently advances human health, happiness, or longevity. The growing reliance on truly international health strategies by national and international agencies, including the more definite and extended practice of preven­ tive medicine, has provided the means to achieve significant gains in the quality of health in years to come. A redeeming feature of contemporary failures in science and medi­ cine is that-once intelligently studied, analyzed, and evaluated-even these failed efforts may provide real insights that can mold our capacity and determination. So it is that, more than in any bygone age, the past ten years have seen the implementation of a sound and systematic in­ frastructure for international health undertakings, thus paving the way for improved health for all.

This book has been well received in many places and in many countries. It was awarded a ranking in the top ten publications on behavioral medicine in the year that it first appeared. When, in 1977, we began to fit the components of Cancer, Stress, and Death together, the established medical view was that each subject repre­ sented a different discipline, and that to integrate fields so diverse in information content was to seek to achieve a synthesis beyond reasonable limits. Had we been required to concern ourselves with the knowledge of each component in its entirety, this might have been so, but our concern, of course, was to integrate only those items of knowledge in any one field that could bear upon the field of interest of another. Moreover, we were concerned that physi­ cians and scientists take account of the inner forces that shape motivation and individual behavior, as well as the cultural identity of individuals, and we hoped that the biopsychosocial way in which we believed would gain ground and win support. Now, with need for a second edition, one can hardly conceive of not bringing together diverse contributions in one volume. Such syntheses as we have made clearly confirm that one can arrive at several levels of understanding of human situations through wise integration of biological paradigms within various social, cultural, and psychological parameters-which essentially is a simple way of defining the biopsychosocial way.