Neurotransmitters and stress

Abstract

In this article definitions of stress and distress are proposed and the relationships between stress and activities of neurohormonal systems explored. The idea is developed that stress is a condition where expectations—whether genetically programed, established by prior learning, or deduced from circumstances—do not match the current or anticipated perceptions of the internal or external environment, and this discrepancy between what is observed or sensed and what is expected or programed elicits patterned, compensatory responses. Distress is viewed here as a form of stress characterized by specific behavioral and autonomic communicated signs, pituitary-adrenocortical and sympathoadrenomedullary activation, and a negative experience that motivates escape or avoidance. During stress, many body systems—including the sympathoadrenal, parasympathetic, and hormonal homeostatic systems—are activated or inhibited in primitively specific patterns regulated by physiological, biochemical, and psychological homeostats. Many of these patterns, which are at least partly inherited, can be understood teleologically on the basis of preservation of the internal environmental and natural selection in evolution.