The General Adaptation Syndrome and the Diseases of Adaptation1

SINCE the first description of the “alarm reaction,” a decade ago, many publications have dealt with this phenomenon and with the “general adaptation syndrome,” of which it forms a part. It is becoming increasingly more obvious that certain physiologic mechanisms, in which the endocrin system plays a prominent part, help to raise resistance to damage as such, irrespective of the specific nature of the damaging agents. Interest in the general adaptation syndrome has recently received a further impetus as a result of investigations suggesting that some of the most important diseases of human pathology (such as hypertension, nephrosclerosis and the rheumatic diseases) may represent by-products of the endocrine reactions, which are at play in the general adaptation syndrome. It was considered a timely enterprise, therefore, to survey this field now and to supply a guide to the rather scattered and polyglot, pertinent literature. In order to familiarize himself with different points of view, the reader is also referred to several earlier reviews on the general adaptation syndrome (10, 11, 235, 295, 358, 569, 571, 577, 629, 634, 654).