Stress reactions in the job setting: case examples

These four case illustrations may seem disparate, perhaps unrelated or disconnected. Yet, each tells its own story; each makes a separate series of points that fits the overall theme of this issue. Each heavily emphasizes the importance of psychodynamics in understanding cases of work stress. Each says to the practitioner, "Take the time to assess and understand an individual who comes to you reacting to his or her work." (I apologize to those readers who, once again, would criticize me for not including a case of a woman in this and the earlier chapter in this monograph series. In the last volume I leaned heavily on the research of Dan Levinson, which did not include women; in this, the points I wanted to make derived from experiences that happened to be with male patients.)