Chapter 1. Selye’s Stress Response Studies

Short Description

Dr. Hans Selye has worked as director of experimental medicine and surgery at the University of Montreal since 1945. The university is a world center for the study of stress.

Long Description

Dr. Hans Selye has worked as director of experimental medicine and surgery at the University of Montreal since 1945. The university is a world center for the study of stress.

Selye explains his long involvement in research on stress. He observes that in addition to the symptoms that are unique to each illness, there is a syndrome or set of disease signs common to all illnesses, for example, feeling ill, tired, and appetite loss. Already as a medical student, Selye noted that he observed this syndrome of “just being sick.” Ten years later, he published his first manuscript on stress entitled, “A Syndrome Produced by Diverse Nocuous Agents.”

Stress plays a role in every disease, argues Selye, because disease places increased demands on the body. In some diseases, stress proves to be the decisive factor. When asked about his own personal stress, Selye describes it as the “salt of life.” You need stress, he observes, to make life worthwhile. Stress plays a positive role in life.

People vary in their need or tolerance for stress. For example, Selye notes he has a fairly intense need for work. In fact, he could not exist without it. At the same time, he does not fight for things he cannot win.

Questions