Abstract
The neuroendocrine system of a mammal is organized to respond in patterns of expectancy. Each species has evolved with the capacity to attain its own peculiar desiderata, e.g., appropriate diet, nest, and mate: challenges to these expectations arouse the sympathetic adrenal-medullary system. The ensuing behavior involves an irritable aggressivity designed to overcome the threat. The norepinephrine-to-epinephrine ratio increases with the physiological accompaniments of the raised catecholamine levels. Unfavorable early environmental experiences can create a mental set that views the current external milieu as a never-ending challenge. Such a stress-prone temperament is often associated with depressed gonadotropic activity and/or disturbed alimentary and cardiovascular function. The more anxious the organism becomes and doubts the fulfillment of expectancies, the more the pituitary-adrenocortical axis becomes implicated. Anxiety is accompanied by increasing levels of epinephrine. Acute events like bereavement, which abruptly deny expectancies, lead to a resetting of the limbic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis with helplessness and the depression that often accompanies it (2, 8, 10, 12).
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© 1985 American Physiological Society
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Henry, J.P., Stephens-Larson, P. (1985). Specific Effects of Stress on Disease Processes. In: Moberg, G.P. (eds) Animal Stress. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7544-6_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7544-6_10
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