its vulnerability. Specifically, research suggests that self-critical individuals actively create a social environment marred with stress and replete with positive events and social support, which, in turn, brings about these individuals' distress. In adolescence, this distress feeds back to individuals' self-criticism, creating "a self-critical cascade". This cascade is played out both within and outside psychotherapy, and even in the lives of chronic pain patients. In his recent book titled Erosion: The Psychopathology of Self-Criticism (published by Oxford University Press), Shahar offers a novel theory that illuminates the development of self-criticism throughout the life span. The theory depicts criticism in general and self-criticism in particular, as a distorted and addictive form of self-knowledge, which is amalgamated by societal norms and rules as well as by brain structures and functions. Resilience and stress-resistance Complementing his interest in psychological vulnerability is Shahar's fascination with the notion of resilience, i.e., individuals' ability to develop and thrive in the face of stressful conditions. However, Shahar is critical towards the notion that resilience is distinct from risk. Instead, he posits that any factor may confer both risk and resilience. Underlying this dialectic position on risk and resilience is Shahar's argument, whereby psychosocial factors are inherently multifaceted and multilayered, with some “variance facets” positively associated with health and illness, and others negatively associated with these outcomes. His work on adolescent perceived social support, carried out primarily with his chief collaborator, Prof. Christopher Henrich from Georgia State University, demonstrates this theoretical position. Shahar and Henrich, and their respective colleagues and students, have been examining the effects of social support from friends, parents, and school personnel on adolescents’ psychopathology and risk behaviors. They studied both community-dwelling American adolescents and Israeli adolescents who are routinely exposed to political and terror violence. Their research shows that, in most instances, perceived social support is a double-edged sword, conferring both risk and resilience. An exception to this pattern appears to be perceived social support from family members, which – according to Shahar and Henrich – should be the principal target of preventive interventions. Psychotherapy integration Shahar is a leading figure in the psychotherapy integration movement, which emphasizes the importance of transcending the traditional schools of thought in psychotherapy (e.g., the psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, humanistic –existential, and family-systems). He integrates psychodynamic, existential, and cognitive therapeutic techniques into a coherent theoretical gestalt, and applies this gestalt to the treatment of adolescents and young adults who present