Hans Selye is known throughout the world as the creator of the theory of stress. His books are still very popular today. They are referenced by many reputable scientists and popular journals. We invite you to follow the life path of this outstanding researcher.
Hans' parents
Hans Selye was born in Vienna on January 26, 1907. His father was a Hungarian military doctor who had his own private surgical clinic in Komarno (Slovakia). As a child, our hero was haunted by his mother, an educated and rather eccentric woman. Maria Felicita (that was her name) made her son speak four languages in the family circle. He easily learned German and Hungarian. The first was native to the mother, and the second to the father. Governesses were hired to teach English and French.
Learning languages
The future professor Selye, of course, had no doubt that his mother, with the best of intentions, had been examining her son in French grammar since the morning. However, these studies led to the fact that during his life Hans could not figure out which of the four languages \u200b\u200bto consider his native. Sometimes in the morning he feltsevere stress, as he could not immediately understand which of them should be spoken. By the way, he could only experience stress after he described it. And before that (probably out of ignorance) Hans managed to get married twice.
The two wives of Hans Selye
His first wife was the daughter of a coal magnate. Apparently, she, too, experienced the malaise discovered by Hans, since her husband often disappeared into the laboratories of the university. Because of this, she was eternally dissatisfied with Hans Selye. After they had a child, the wife filed for divorce. She even managed to get the father's surname canceled for her daughter Katherine. Because of this, Hans was very worried. He never managed to cope with the disease, the reason for which was that his daughter avoided him in every possible way. But Katherine did not inherit her father's illness for some reason. She traveled the world extensively and sent smug letters from all over the world.
Gabrielle, the second wife of the scientist, bore him four children. However, in this case, the need to educate them all brought Selye to a state of horror. After 28 years of living with his wife and, of course, continuous stress, Hans decided to leave her.
Other sources of stress
Besides, Hans Selye was possessed by other sources of tension. For example, he could not accurately determine his nationality. Hans spent his childhood and youth in the town of Komarno, located in Austria-Hungary. After the collapse of the state, this town ended up in Czechoslovakia. Selye was given a passport of this particular country. Considering the language confusion that was in Hans' mind,it is not difficult to imagine how much of a source of stress this circumstance was for him. However, the most terrible thing for our hero was, perhaps, that all his life he could not find a place where he could live and work in peace.
Training period
Hans Selye entered the University of Prague, the Faculty of Medicine, where he studied from 1924. However, the university clinic did not have the conditions to carry out research on how the body reacts to various infections. Namely, the student was interested in this area of medicine at that time. After 2 years, Hans decided to transfer to the University of Paris. There were the necessary conditions for work, but the scientist did not have a relationship with local professors - he had to return to Prague.
Teaching activities
Hans Selye finally received his medical degree in 1931. He became a doctor of chemical sciences. In addition, Hans received a Rockefeller scholarship. Now he could conduct his research in the best educational institutions in the United States and not worry about money. Selye went to teach at the University of B altimore. Here he developed good relations with students and colleagues. However, the doctor was unable to cope with the culture shock.
Later, the professor recalled that he was most annoyed by the parties that the professors' wives threw for "poor foreign students." Hans was never able to get rid of invitations to these events, as well as the stress they caused. After 3 years hestarted working at the University of Montreal.
It would seem that there were all conditions for such a nervous professor, including his own laboratory. However, Selye again experienced irritability and anxiety, which seemed unreasonable. During insomnia, he went over his past and tried to understand why his acquaintances, who were in similar circumstances, behave calmly, and Hans constantly panics. Selye decided to look into this at the chemical level. After 5 years, the outstanding scientist Hans Selye found the first proof of the theory of stress.
Stress - G. Selye's discovery
In 1936, the scientist published the first article on the phenomenon of interest to him. In scientific circles, the invention made by Hans Selye was accepted with a bang. Apparently, there were other researchers who tried to explain the sensations that they sometimes had to experience. That's just no one dared to pay them so much attention, not to mention how to track the consequences of all sorts of life's troubles at the hormonal level. It was Hans Selye who first saw the connection between anxiety and what is happening at that moment in the human body. As you already know, he spoke English, so it was not difficult for him to find the necessary definition of stress (translated from this language - "stress"). This word made Hans famous all over the world.
Experiments on rats
Experiments thatcarried out by Hans Selye at the University of Montreal, were set by him not only over himself, but also over rats. They created difficult living conditions. Without knowing it, these animals have provided humans with indisputable evidence that stress really exists. In the blood of rats at that time, adrenaline was produced - the "stress hormone" (as it was called by Hans Selye). The scientist suggested that the following main factors affect the strength of experiences - life experience, emotional stability of a particular person, as well as heredity, that is, how a person's ancestors behaved in difficult situations.
Further experiments by Selye Hans proved that stress is the cause of many diseases such as arthritis, asthma and heart disease. It is accompanied by the release of hormones in large quantities, in particular adrenaline. Hans Selye came to these and other interesting conclusions. The stress of life, however, he continued to experience very often.
Hans' new wife
The scientific recognition that the scientist received compensated for his unsuccessful personal life. However, now a woman has reappeared in his life. Louise made Hans have complicated feelings. Selye was even pleased by this, because it was confirmation that stress can cause not only negative, but also positive emotions. Louise made the professor feel like a failure again. She kept asking the question, did the inventor of stress manage to overcome it himself? This woman even made the scientist doubt hisopening. Hans Selye's stress theory seemed to have nothing to do with Louise. For example, she could easily have breakfast for 3-4 hours in a row or go without money for a long time. Domestic troubles practically did not bother her. The scientist even began to think: "Maybe the rats tricked me?"
Louise was a capable woman. She brilliantly graduated from the Sorbonne University (Faculty of Medicine), but she refused a scientific career without the slightest hesitation, since she was not satisfied with a three-month vacation in the summer. However, she gladly became Cellier's personal secretary at his request. Louise liked order, but could feel comfortable even in places where cleaning was very rare.
The most paradoxical thing was that Hans Selye was also affected by her calmness. He was so comfortable with her that he forgot about the stress. 3 years after they met, Hans Selye decided to marry the woman who had such a beneficial effect on him.
Opening of the Stress Institute
In 1950, our hero opened his own institute, of course, stress. However, now he was interested in how to deal with it, and not the reaction of the body to external influences. Hans believed that his wife would help him find the answer to this important question. However, Louise preferred to ride with Hans on a bicycle or in an old Toyota. Lounging in a chair with her feet on the coffee table, she chuckled at the scientist, saying that this was probably the best position for relieving tension.
Hans Selye: books and basicconcepts
While Hans and Louise sunbathed on the roof of the Stress Institute he founded, his books were translated into 17 different languages. Selye is the author of over 1700 scientific articles. In addition, he has written 39 books on the nature of stress. Hans Selye's favorite brainchild is Stress Without Distress. This book is still very popular today. You are probably curious to know what kind of mysterious concept Hans Selye introduced in this work (“distress”). This is stress that harms the body (as opposed to beneficial eustress). It is caused by prolonged and strong impacts. Eustress is caused by exposure to moderate force. It is even necessary for maintaining he alth, as it strengthens and trains the adaptive systems of the human body.
Among other books, "Essays on the General Adaptation Syndrome", "From Dream to Discovery", "At the Level of the Whole Organism", etc. stand out. You are probably interested in another term that Hans used in the title of one of his books Selye ("general adaptation syndrome"). This is a diagram of the physiological response of our body to stressful situations. It is divided into the following 3 phases: anxiety, opposition and exhaustion. When stress is prolonged or intense, the body is under greater strain. The symptoms characteristic of the first phase reappear. The human body can no longer cope with them, and one or another physical disorder develops (for example, a stomach ulcer). SoHans Selye's adaptation syndrome manifests itself. Thus, stress can cause serious illness. Hans Selye wrote a lot about this. Atherosclerosis, for example, was one of the subjects of his research. Hans Selye proposed his neurogenic (stress) model.
Did Hans find a cure for stress?
The scientist died in 1982. After his death, the theory of Hans Selye was further developed. The results of his research have been cited in countless popular journals, as well as in 362,000 scientific articles. But Hans still failed to find a cure for stress. Is it any wonder, because our life is one continuous tension (stress).
