This monograph is designed to give people engaged in human service activities some new and fresh ideas on how to handle stress, how to benefit from its positive aspects, and how to neutralize its detrimental effects. Part 1 provides a background statement and refers readers to an extensive bibliography provided at the end of the paper for those interested in a thorough review of stress, distress, and related topics. Part 2 provides a definition of stress attributed to Hans Seyle (cited in this paper as the "father of stress research"), and part 3 provides a list of stress-related variables. In part 4, the author discusses acute distress, substituting the term "fade-out" for what is usually called "burn-out" on account of the objectionable and inaccurate connotation of irreversibility in the latter. Included are a list of unconscious fade-out responses (techniques that achieve detachment and distance in human relationships), a fade-out profile of symptoms, and fade-out signals. Part 5, entitled "Focusing In," offers specific suggestions and techniques to minimize fade-out. Part 6, "Appendices," provides a series of schematic feedback diagrams ("anticipating conflict evolution,""loser's cycle," and "winner's cycle") and a pair of charts correlating types of stress with stress management strategies. Reference notes and the bibliography cited in Part 1 condclude the paper. (TE)