This volume investigates the causal relationship between psychosocial environmental stressors and the development of psychosomatic diseases. Lennart Levi, a pioneer in stress research, compiles interdisciplinary data to argue that modern social structures and environmental pressures act as significant biological stressors. The work establishes a framework for understanding how external social conditions translate into internal physiological pathology.

Experts recognize this volume as a foundational text in the field of psychosomatic medicine and stress research. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose and the rigorous, data-driven approach to complex social phenomena.