Coping with Serious Illness: Doctor/Patient Relationships. Studies the ongoing relationships of Joan Robinson with her doctor and other medical personnel. In the process it explores the criteria for choosing a doctor, the role of the clergy, and the special bonds between patient and nurse. On-camera narrator: Meryl Streep. (1980, 30 min.) University of California Extension, Center for Media and Independent Learning, 2000 Center Street, Fourth Floor, Berkeley, CA 94704.

Coping with Serious Illness: Pain. This film details various approaches to coping with both pain and the fear of pain. It examines the effects of suffering on the personality, the differences among types of pain, and the methods available for treating it. It also provides practical expert advice for the patient, family, friends, and medical professionals while focusing on the experiences of Joan Robinson, a woman terminally ill with cancer. On-camera narrator: Meryl Streep. (1980, 30 min.) University of California Extension, Center for Media and Independent Learning, 2000 Center Street, Fourth Floor, Berkeley, CA 94704.

Emotion and Illness. New work in immunology research has shown that emotions do play a role in physical health. Women with incurable breast cancer who have been through psychotherapy have actually lived twice as long as women without such therapy. People have been able to lower their blood pressure and decrease medication by dealing with the causes of anger and depression. This program visits classes for people under stress, hospital cancer wards, and a support group for breast cancer patients to show how emotions are being treated in order to improve health. (1995, 30 min.) Films for the Humanities and Sciences, PO Box 2053, Princeton, NJ 08543-2053.

Health. This film demonstrates, with commentary by Norman Cousins and a variety of eminent doctors, that our mental attitude, along with a proper diet and exercise, plays a vital part in our physical well-being. In particular it stresses that “our health is how we live.” Award winner. (1983, 25 min.) University of California Extension, Center for Media and Independent Learning, 2000 Center Street, Fourth Floor, Berkeley, CA 94704.

Health, Mind, and Behavior (Discovering Psychology Series). In psychological theory, the bio-psychosocial model is replacing the traditional biomedical model. Accordingly, this film explains how recent research is reexaming the relationship between mind and body. (1989, 28 min.) Audio-Visual Center, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47495-5901.

Health, Stress, and Coping. Provides a number of good examples that illustrate the relationship between psychological states and physical reactions. Also discusses Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome. (1990, 30 min.) Insight Media, 121 West 85th Street, New York, NY 10024.

Managing Stress. Examines ways to cope with common stressors in our environment. (1989, 33 min.) CRM/McGraw-Hill Films, 2233 Faraday Avenue, Carlsbad, CA 92008.

Pain and Healing (The Mind Series). While examining the mind’s role in healing the body and controlling pain, this film explores the ways in which attitudes affect patterns of disease and pain. It tours a pain clinic at the University of Washington in Seattle where patients with chronic pain participate in a three-week course designed to ease their suffering. It reveals that patients under hypnosis dissociate with painful sensory input, demonstrating that the brain is actually an interpreter of pain. Also describes how the body’s pain-killing mechanisms respond to expectation and placebos, allowing the mind to make associations that have a powerful effect on the healing process. (1989, 20 min.) Audio-Visual Center, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47495.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: The Woman’s Perspective. The puzzling nervous disorder, originally associated with former Vietnam combat veterans, has since become a recognized health problem for millions of American women. In truth, more women than men suffer from PTSD. This program examines the symptoms and suspected causes of the disorder, including feelings of helplessness suffered by victims of child abuse, sexual assault, or domestic violence. Doctors and sufferers discuss the ongoing problem of PTSD misdiagnosis, along with the treatments and therapies that have proven effective in controlling its disabling symptoms. (1998, 20 min.) Films for the Humanities and Sciences, PO Box 2053, Princeton, NJ 08543-2053.

Social Side of Health (Triangle of Health Film Series). This film emphasizes the equal importance of all three sides of health: social, physical, and mental. It also points out that, however important it is for each person to nurture his or her own individuality, humans must accept the fact that they are, by nature, social beings with a basic need to relate to others and to find acceptance and recognition in group membership. (1969, 10 min.) Bureau of Audio Visual Instruction, University of Wisconsin Extension, PO Box 2093, Madison, WI 53701-2093.

Stress: A Disease of Our Time. Examines current social, psychological, and medical research on the causes and effects of stress, showing it to be a factor in such diseases as ulcers, migraine, asthma, and mental disorders. It also illustrates how overcrowding, anxiety, tension, and high-pressure jobs produce stress, and explores some of the inherent physical and psychological mechanisms that counteract it. BBC production. (1970, 35 min.) University of California Extension, Center for Media and Independent Learning, 2000 Center St., 4th Fl., Berkeley, CA 94704.

Stress: You can Live with It. Three dramatized case histories depict the risk-taking patterns typical of Type A workaholics, illustrating how stress control, proper nutrition, exercise, and abstaining from smoking can enrich and extend lives -- and increase productivity. (1983, 26 min.) University of California Extension, Center for Media and Independent Learning, 2000 Center St., 4th Floor, Berkeley, CA 94704.

Health Psychology. This site, run by Dr. Scott Oddie of Red Deer College in Western Canada, is an interesting resource for further investigating the area of health psychology. It includes links to an online stress test, a general health assessment site, a burnout test, a type A quiz, and a longevity game. Visit this site at: http://www.rdc.ab.ca/scottpsych/website/frames/stress.htm.

Typecat (Type A-B Behavior). In this module, students take a brief personality test and then discuss the implications of the results. The module gives careful qualifications for making generalizations based on these simple test results. The students’ main objective is to learn how test scores on the Type A-B test are used to link behavioral patterns and illness. (DOS) Houghton Mifflin Company; see your sales representative.