Psychopathology of Human Adaptation

Abstract

Undoubtedly this symposium will prove to be an important landmark in the development of our understanding of the psychopathology of human adaptation in general, as well as of the general adaptation syndrome and stress in particular. It was organized to give an opportunity to an international group of experts on adaptation and stress research to present summaries of their research that could then later be exhaustively analyzed. The carefully structured program brings out three major aspects of adapta tion to stress in experimental animals and man. The first section deals with the neurophysiology of stress responses, placing major emphasis upon the neuroanatomical and neurochemical aspects involved. The second section is devoted to the psychology and psychopathology of adaptive learning, motivation, anxiety, and stress. The third section examines the role played by stress in the pathogenesis of mental diseases. Many of the relevant subjects receive particularly detailed attention. Among these, the following are especially noteworthy: The existence of reward and drive neurons. Constitutional differences in physiological adaptations to stress and d- tress. Motivation, mood, and mental events in relation to adaptive processes. Peripheral catecholamines and adaptation to underload and overload. Selective corticoid and catecholamine responses to various natural stimuli. The differentiation between eustress and distress. Resistance and overmotivation in achievement-oriented activity. The dynamics of conscience and contract psychology. Sources of stress in the drive for power. Advances in the therapy of psychiatric illness. The application of experimental studies on learning to the treatment of neuroses. Psychopathology of Human Adaptation: Psychological and Physiological Mechanisms in Human Adaptation and Maladaptation -- I. Neurophysiological Mechanisms of Adaptive Behavior -- Some Experimental Observations on the Neuroanatomical Substrates of Learned Adaptive Behaviors -- The Role of Learning in Physiological Response to Stress -- Do Reward Neurons and Drive Neurons Exist? -- Constitutional Differences in Physiologic Adaptation to Stress and Distress -- Motivation, Mood, and Mental Events: Patterns and Implications for Adaptive Processes -- Stereotyped Behavior and Stress -- Workshop I (Moderated by Eliot Stellar) -- II. Psychopathology of Adaptive Learning: Motivation, Anxiety, and Stress -- Stress without Distress -- Selectivity of Corticosteroid and Catecholamine Responses to Various Natural Stimuli -- The Role of Peripheral Catecholamines in Adaption to Understimulation and Overstimulation -- Resistance and Overmotivation in Achievement-Oriented Activity -- From the Dynamics of Conscience to Contract Psychology: Clinical Theory and Practice in Transition -- Discussion -- Workshop II (Moderated by Stewart G. Wolf) -- III. Clinical Modification of Behavior -- Sources of Stress in the Drive for Power -- Advances in the Healing of Psychopathology: Exposure Treatment -- How Laboratory-Derived Principles of Learning Have Conquered the Neuroses -- Recurrent Dilemmas in Behavioral Therapy -- The Affective Significance of Uncertainty -- Workshop III (Moderated by Chester M. Pierce) -- Concluding Remarks -- Stress and Human Psychopathology -- Index of Names.