Hans Selye: General Adaptation Syndrome (Endocrinology of Torture)

Shared by Claire Dubois • medicine, enhanced interrogation, clean torture • 1950

"The general adaptation syndrome is defined as the sum of all non-specific, systemic reactions of the body which ensue upon long continued exposure to stress. The paper calls attention to the possible connection between the adaptation syndrome and various diseases. If this linkage can be proven, the author contends, then it follows that some of the most common fatal diseases of man are due to a breakdown of the hormonal adaptation mechanism." --Hans Selye, C.C., M.D., Ph.D., D. Sc "...it gave the first holistic survey and description of the diseases of adaptation (or 'stress diseases')." "The