Putting Stress in Life: Hans Selye and the Making of Stress Theory - Viner - 1999 - Article

Starting from the 1930s, ‘stress’ became a popular topic. Hans Selye (1970) was the first to write about it. He first wrote about it with reference to a non-specific, physiological defence reaction in experimental animals. Later, by 1940, Selye established the contemporary meaning of stress: the non-specific physiological adaptation that is part of life itself.

What is this article about?

Starting from the 1930s, ‘stress’ became a popular topic. Hans Selye (1970) was the first to write about it. He first wrote about it with reference to a non-specific, physiological defence reaction in experimental animals. Later, by 1940, Selye established the contemporary meaning of stress: the non-specific physiological adaptation that is part of life itself.

How did the discovery of stress take place?

In 1935, being a medical laboratory scientist, Selye was studying new female hormones in rats. He found that some extracts produced a previously unrecognized triad organ changes, which he believed to be new female sex hormones. However, he found out that when he injected the rats with harmful agents, that the same organ changes would take place. This was called the non-specific physiological reaction in response to a dangerous chemical, or to ‘being sick’.

This theory first generated a lot of interest. Selye later created a research programme for studying the ‘stress’ concept. He published a 800-page monograph, published in 1950. Together with his students, Selye created Stress Institutes all over the world. Unfortunately, a lot of colleagues in laboratory biology rejected the validity of Selye’s discovery. Many viewed stress as unobservable, unmeasurable, and extremely plastic. It was thus not regarded as suitable for science. He achieved the most criticism on his ‘reacton theory’, which was a theory about physiology in which he conceptualized all life as a series of adaptive reactions. In the 1950s, Selye moved away from the laboratory and went public with his ideas about stress. The military were one of the allies of Selye: most of Selye’s books were military studies of stress following World War II. Military psychologists could identify with Selye’s ideas, because they had seen that soldiers experienced combat neurosis after going to war.

During the 1950s, Selye published his book ‘The Stress of Life’, which promised happiness and health for all people through the pursuit of successful adaptation. This book became very popular.

Selye’s ideas about stress were thus accepted by the mass, but not by his colleagues. However, in the 1960s, stress had re-entered the scientific domain by psychological disciplines. In 1967, two American psychologists were studying mental and physical adaptation to the environment and they used Selye’s concepts to quantify the adversity of human life with an instrument called ‘the Stress of Life’. Stress was quantified by scoring significant Life Events in an individual’s life. The amount of adaptation that was needed to cope with these Life Events were called ‘stress’.  This was met with a lot of enthusiasm and in the 1970s, there was a lot of research conducted into the connection of stress with different diseases. For example, Life Events were associated with hypertension to diabetes.  However, at the end of the 1970s, there was still a lot of disagreement among researchers regarding stress. There was thus a discrepancy between the public belief (the mass) and science. To validate public belief, there was a renaissance of the ideas in the 1980s. There were new models developed, which were said to reveal the true biological basis of stress. The leading physiologists in that time accepted the premise of non-specific organic reactions, but rejected the ‘Selye model’ of stress.

From the 1990s on, stress was successfully accepted into modern science in all areas of physiology and human functioning. Laboratory scientists  viewed stress as a heuristic truth of modern life instead of a dubious physiological hypothesis.

What can be concluded?

In sum, Selye introduced the concept of stress in the 1930s. His ideas were incorporated, but his original idea that stress is a physiological syndrome was rejected. Instead, stress is now seen as a controllable interaction between humans and their environment. Selye’s ideas became popular because the public accepted his ideas.

BulletPoints

• In 1935, being a medical laboratory scientist, Selye was studying new female hormones in rats. He found that some extracts produced a previously unrecognized triad organ changes, which he believed to be new female sex hormones. However, he found out that when he injected the rats with harmful agents, that the same organ changes would take place. This was called the non-specific physiological reaction in response to a dangerous chemical, or to ‘being sick’.

• In sum, Selye introduced the concept of stress in the 1930s. His ideas were incorporated, but his original idea that stress is a physiological syndrome was rejected. Instead, stress is now seen as a controllable interaction between humans and their environment. Selye’s ideas became popular because the public accepted his ideas.