First Published in 1983. All families experience stress: the adjustment period when an infant is born; the many problems engendered by adolescents; role, dual-career, and work demands; environmental and societal problems; sexuality; divorce; marital tension; and the stress inherent in single parenting and stepparenting. In addition, families are frequently confronted by unexpected, stress-causing catastrophes: chronic illness and death addiction; abandonment by a spouse; unemployment; rape; national and international political crises; and natural disasters. Stress and the Family, Volume II: Coping With Catastrophe shows how the family produces and reacts to stress-causing situations and problems, and identifies a wide range of stress sources-those "normal," gradual, and cumulative life stressors commonly related to intimate family interaction and development, and those sudden, unpredictable, and often overwhelming stress-causing events or circumstances arising outside the family microsystem. The volume provides a blueprint for understanding the intricate patterns of individual and family reactions to catastrophes, showing how profoundly a disaster which strikes one family member can affect the entire family. Clinicians and family researchers discuss catastrophes that impact families infrequently, but without warning and with devastating consequences. Each chapter opens with a brief case study of a family struggling with the aftermath of a particular catastrophe.Coping With Catastrophe, and its companion volume, Coping With Normative Transitions, are based upon research, theories, and techniques in this area from both family therapy and sociology. The clear, practical intervention methods described and meticulous structural organization make both volumes pioneering textbooks for students and professionals interested not only in a comprehensive understanding of stress and the family, but also in strategies for helping families develop effective coping styles.
