Our stress response system is magnificent - it operates beneath our awareness, like an orchestra of organs playing a hidden symphony. When we are healthy, the orchestra plays effortlessly, but what happens when our bodies face chronic stress, and the music slips out of tune? The alarming rise of stress-related conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, and depression, show the price we're paying for our high-pressure living, while global warming, pandemics and technology have brought new kinds of stress into all our lives. But what can we do about it? Explore the fascinating mysteries of our hidden stress response system with Dr. Wulsin, who uses his decades of experience to show how toxic stress impacts our bodies; he gives us the expert advice and tools needed to prevent toxic stress from taking over. Chapter by chapter, learn to help your body and mind recover from toxic stress.

Winner, 2024 Choice Awards

‘Wulsin's Toxic Stress is a tour de force. His writing style is refreshing and vivid, and his understanding of contemporary research is encyclopedic and up to date. This is a terrific book.'

Joel E. Dimsdale - M.D., Editor-Emeritus, Psychosomatic Medicine, Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus, University of California, San Diego

‘We know we are stressed … Thank goodness, we now have a valuable, easy-to-read, practical book that helps us figure out what to do about it! Lawson Wulsin, MD is a highly experienced and knowledgeable psychiatrist who writes with humor and great insight.  Using interesting clinical vignettes and understandable explanations and solutions, this book is a must read for those who want to improve the connections between stress-behavior-illness … and get healthier!!’

Michelle B. Riba - M.D., M.S., Past President, American Psychiatric Association; Professor, University of Michigan, Department of Psychiatry

‘Toxic Stress towers over other books that offer help for stressed-out readers. This insightful and compassionate guide by a renowned medical scientist and practicing physician examines the myriad toxic stressors to which all of us are being exposed in the 21st Century and the many ways in which toxic stress can affect our health and well-being. It goes on to explain how we can build resilience to prevent stress-related illnesses and how to find help for stress-related problems. And it leaves us with good reasons to believe that we can find ways to thrive, even when we’re swimming in a sea of troubles.’

Kenneth Freedland - PhD, Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis

‘An easy-to-read and very catchy book which is, to many doctors, opening the black box of the complex bodily stress system and the risk factors for toxic stress. Health care professionals tend to ignore the problem of toxic stress despite it causing a range of diseases and also premature death. This book should be mandatory reading for doctors across the world.’

Per Fink - Professor, PhD, DMSc, Research Clinic for Functional Disorders and Psychosomatics, Aarhus University Hospital and Aarhus University, Denmark

‘This is an erudite, informative, and engaging book written by a master physician. Dr Wulsin draws on both his own experience as a clinician and on his thoughtful reading of the research literature, to tell a story that we all need to hear: the story of stress. He explains how, whilst stress is an integral and inescapable part of all our lives, it can become toxic and make us ill. He also gives us sound advice about what we, and the health care system, should do about it. This is a sound and thought-provoking read for anyone interested in health, whether as patient, physician, or health care planner.’

Michael Sharpe - MA MD, Emeritus Professor of Psychological Medicine, University of Oxford, President of the European Association of Psychosomatic Medicine

‘In this fabulous book, it becomes clear ‘How Stress Is Making Us Ill and What We Can Do About It.’ Dr Wulsin outlines the adverse health consequences of toxic stress but also the various advantages of resilience when coping with adverse life situations. Readers will find helpful information about how mind and body influence each other, which is especially important when stress levels are high. You will also find useful examples of how to talk about stress with your doctor, family and friends. This inspiring book makes stress understandable for a broad range of readers and also for health care professionals.’

Willem J. Kop - Professor of Medical and Clinical Psychology, Tilburg University, The Netherlands, Emeritus Editor-in-Chief of Psychosomatic Medicine

‘In this brilliant and eminently readable book, Lawson Wulsin highlights the role of chronic stress and trauma as the most burdensome (and neglected) public health issue in our society, affecting multiple organ systems in the body that have a profound impact on our social, financial and medical well-being. Illustrated with vivid case histories, Wulsin presents the complex and multidimensional impact of toxic stress, while providing us with exciting and life-altering evidence based solutions.’

Bessel van der Kolk - MD, author of The Body Keeps the Score, President of Trauma Research Foundation

‘Dr Lawson Wulsin’s new book is authentic in its timeliness. He impressively analyses the burgeoning science of mind body and lifestyle medicine that has emerged to fight the so-called syndemic of toxic stress that the nation and indeed the world are currently experiencing. We do have evidence-based practices and practice-based evidence in medicine that can help our neighbors and our communities build their resilience and robustness. Dr Wulsin’s book provides us with a pro-active prescription that can help us promote health and, in some cases, prevent the stress-related illnesses described in this book. In this way, this book is both timely and hopeful.’

Gregory Fricchione - MD, Associate Chief of Psychiatry, Director, Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine; Co-Director, McCance Center for Brain Health, Massachusetts General Hospital; Mind Body Medicine Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School

‘The book's master stroke is weaving together copious peer-reviewed evidence from various modalities to make the case for a sea change in our healthcare culture surrounding prevention and management of stress-related chronic illness. Additionally, highlighting gaps and shortcomings in current medical knowledge and practice offers a rough roadmap for navigating said change - in no less than a multidisciplinary fashion.’

Olivia Colombo Source: Doody's Reviews

‘Wulsin, MD, grabs readers' attention with Toxic Stress and does not let go … He explores pathways for treatment that approach toxic stress so that caregivers are equipped to help their patients' minds and bodies recover from it … Highly recommended.’

R. E. Osborne Source: CHOICE