Beyond the Germ Theory: The Roles of Deprivation and Stress in Health and Disease

Abstract

This book goes beyond the germ theory in discussing the disease-producing effects of stress and deprivation as applied to clinical medicine and to public health. The papers reprinted in this volume were originally given at the 12th Annual Eastern States Health Education Conference sponsored by the New York Academy of Medicine. The contributors are all well qualified in their specialties. Animal and human behaviorism is presented in the light of deprivation and stress reactions as related to clinical and social medicine. The book extends the concepts of Claude Bernard, Walter Cannon, and Hans Selye— of the internal milieu, of homeostasis, and of the stress syndrome as it applies to all periods of life. The contents of this volume are profound, important, and easily read. Many new ideas, such as the application of the stress and deprivation theory to public health, are put forth. Anyone seriously interested in any aspect of