Nearly one-third of the population suffers from chronic pain. At least as many are living with some degree of depression. We are surrounded on all sides by stressors, ranging from excess noise and light to changes in the economy and terrorist threats. The prevalence of stress-related disease is steadily increasing. So what can we do, as patients and as care-givers, to try to deal with these conditions and the burden they place on the individual and on society? The book looks at what might be contributing to so much suffering on the part of so many and what might be done to change the status quo. Patients, their doctors and society as a whole will all have a role to play if the present situation is ever to be improved; the goal is to try to bring to all a common ground for understanding what each may be able to do.