Fig. 1. Major life events and chronic difficulties during the 2 years preceding the study and their temporal relationship to the patient’s last flare-up in September 1995. Events and difficulties are indicated by serially numbered capital letters (E1 = patient’s orthopedic surgery, E2 = uncle’s operation, E3 = sister’s divorce, E4 = son leaves home, D1 = patient’s depression, D2 = patient’s chronic low back pain, D3 = patient’s court case for disability pension, D4 = family’s financial problems, D5 = nephew’s chronic cough). Additionally, they are characterized by time of occurrence (dotted line) and severity ratings. For example, the patient’s orthopedic surgery (E1) occurred in April 1995 and was rated as moderate (2) on short-term contextual threat and little (4) on long-term contextual threat. Another example is the patient’s depression (D1), which began with a "high moderate" contextual threat (3) in January 1995, did not change in severity, and ended in February 1995 after 4 to 5 weeks.
