The stress interview: unfinished business.

The stress interview, once a common method of psychophysiological research, is today unused because of concerns for research design and ethical issues. As it almost uniquely allows direct structured observations of bodily responses to stress in man it ought to be revived, incorporating modern instrumentation, current methods of refinement of subjective judgments, and now-conventional ethical safeguards. A considerable range of prospective applications to current needs in gastrointestinal research is presented, and the ethical justification for such studies is reviewed. The potential gains far outweight the small risks which would be incurred.