Why do some people collapse under certain life conditions, while others remain relatively unscathed? What accounts for the marked variations in people's responses to stress and adversity? The second edition of this groundbreaking how-to guide has been extensively updated to reflect the field's growing understanding of the importance of resiliency and protective factors—the positive poles of the human experience—and the importance of their role in forming balanced assessments and responsive interventions.

Individual chapters explore such problems as AIDS, chronic physical illness, depression, addiction, homelessness, divorce, and abuse. This new edition goes beyond the pathology explanatory model to stress such factors as courage, coping, and resourcefulness, and includes new chapters on such topics as crime victims and victim services, the death of a parent, gay and lesbian persons, single parenthood, and women of color.