Ганс Селье известен на весь мир как создатель stress theory. His books are still very popular. They are referenced by many reputable scholars and popular magazines. We suggest you follow the life path of this outstanding researcher.
Ганс Селье родился в Вене 26 января 1907 года.His father was a Hungarian, a military doctor, who had his own private surgical clinic in the town of Komarno (Slovakia). In childhood, our hero was haunted by a mother, an educated and rather eccentric woman. Maria Felicita (that was her name) forced her son to speak four languages in family circle. He easily learned German and Hungarian. The first was native for the mother, and the second - for the father. A governess was hired to teach English and French.
The future professor Selye, of course, is notdoubted that his mother, with good 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 he considered to be his own. Sometimes in the mornings he was under great stress, since he could not immediately understand which of them should be spoken. By the way, he could experience stress only after he described it. And before that (probably unknowingly), Hans managed to marry twice.
His first wife was the daughter of a coal magnate.Apparently, she, too, was feeling unwell by Hans, as her husband often disappeared in the laboratories of the university. Because of this, she was always displeased with Hans Selye. After their baby was born, the wife filed for divorce. She even managed to get her father’s name canceled for her daughter Katherine. Because of this, Hans was very worried. He did not manage to cope with the disease, the reason of which was that his daughter avoided him in every possible way. But for some reason, Katherine did not inherit the illness of her father. She traveled a lot around the world and sent smug letters from different parts of the world.
Gabrielle, the second wife of the scientist, bore himfour children. However, in this case, the need to educate all of them brought Selye to a state of horror. After 28 years of living with his wife and, of course, continuous stress, Hans decided to part with her.
Кроме того, Гансом Селье овладевали и другие voltage sources. 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 turned out to be in Czechoslovakia. Selye issued a passport of this particular country. If we take into account the language confusion that was in Hans's head, it is not difficult to imagine how strong a source of stress this circumstance was for him. However, the most terrible thing for our hero was, perhaps, the fact that all his life he could not find a place where he could live and work in peace.
Hans Selye enrolled at Prague University, onFaculty of Medicine, where he studied since 1924. However, the university clinic did not have the conditions to carry out research on how the body responds 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. Here were the necessary conditions for work, but the scientist did not have a relationship with local professors - he had to return to Prague.
Hans Selye in 1931 finally gotmedical degree. He became a doctor of chemical sciences. In addition, Hans received a Rockefeller scholarship. Now he could do his research in the best educational institutions in the USA and not worry about money. Selye went to teach at the University of Baltimore. Here he had good relations with students and colleagues. Nevertheless, the doctor did not manage to cope with the culture shock.
Later, the professor recalled that he was annoyedmost of all parties that were held by professors' wives for "poor foreign students". Hans could not get rid of invitations to these events, as well as the stress they caused. After 3 years, he began working at the University of Montreal.
It would seem that there were all the conditions for sucha nervous professor, including his own laboratory. However, Selye again experienced irritability and anxiety, which seemed unreasonable. During insomnia, he went through his past and tried to understand why his friends, who were in similar circumstances, were calm and Hans was constantly panicking. Selye decided to sort this out on a chemical level. After 5 years, the eminent scientist Hans Selye found the first proof of the theory of stress.
In 1936, the scientist published the first articlededicated to the phenomenon of interest to him. In scientific circles, the invention made by Hans Selye, was taken with a bang. Apparently, there were other researchers who tried to explain the feelings that they sometimes had to experience. But nobody has decided to give them so much attention, let alone track the consequences of all sorts of life troubles on a hormonal level. It was Hans Selye who first saw the connection between the feeling of anxiety and what was happening at that moment in the human body. As you already know, he was fluent in English, so finding the necessary definition of stress (translated from this language as “stress”) was not a big deal for him. This word made Hans famous all over the world.
The experiments that were carried out by Hans Selye inUniversity of Montreal, they were put not only on themselves, but also on rats. He created harsh living conditions. Without knowing it, these animals provided man with incontrovertible evidence that stress does exist. At that time, adrenaline, the stress hormone (as Selye was named Hans), was produced in the blood of rats. The scientist suggested that the following main factors influence the strength of the experiences - life experience, emotional stability of a particular person, as well as heredity, that is, how human ancestors behaved in difficult situations.
Further experiments done by Selye Hansproved that stress is the cause of many diseases, such as arthritis, asthma and heart disease. He is accompanied by the release of hormones in large quantities, in particular adrenaline. These and other interesting findings came Hans Selye. The stress of life, however, he continued to experience very often.
Научное признание, которое получил ученый, compensated for his unsuccessful personal life. But now a woman has reappeared in his life. Louise made Hans experience complex feelings. Selye even pleased it, because it was confirmation that stress can cause not only negative, but also positive emotions. Louise again made the professor feel like a loser. She kept asking the question, did the inventor of stress manage to overcome it himself? This woman even made the scientist doubt his discovery. The stress theory of Hans Selye did not seem to concern Louise. For example, she could quietly have breakfast for 3-4 hours in a row or for a long time without money. Household turmoil it almost did not care. The scientist even began to think: "Maybe the rats deceived me?"
Louise was a capable woman.She graduated from the University of Sorbonne with a brilliance (medical faculty), but she refused from a scientific career without the slightest hesitation since she was not satisfied with a three-month vacation in the summer. However, she gladly became Selye's private secretary at his request. Louise loved order, but could feel comfortable even where cleaning was done very rarely.
The most paradoxical was thatHans Selye spread her calm. Next to her, he was so comfortable that he forgot about stress. Three years after they met, Hans Selye decided to marry a woman who had such a beneficial influence on him.
In 1950, our hero opened his institute,Of course, stress. But now he was interested in how to deal with it, and not the body's response to external influences. Hans believed that his wife would help him find the answer to this important question. However, Louise preferred to ride a bike or an old Toyota with Hans. Lounging in a chair, with her legs on the coffee table, she laughed at the scientist, saying that this is probably the best posture for stress relief.
While Hans and Louise sunbathed on the roof createdIm Stress Institute, his books have been translated into 17 different languages. Selye is the author of more than 1,700 scientific articles. In addition, he wrote 39 books on the nature of stress. Favorite brainchild that created Hans Selye, - "Stress without distress." This book is still very popular. You are probably curious to know what kind of mysterious concept was introduced in this work by Hans Selye ("distress"). It is stress that harms the body (as opposed to beneficial eustress). His cause long and strong effects. Eustress is caused by the effects of moderate strength. It is even necessary to maintain health, as it strengthens and trains the adaptation systems of the human body.
Among other books stand out "Essays on Generaladaptation syndrome "," From dream to discovery "," At the level of the whole organism ", and others. You are probably interested in another term that Hans Selye used in the title of one of his books (" general adaptation syndrome "). This is the physiological response scheme our body's stressful situations. It is divided into the following 3 phases: anxiety, reaction and exhaustion. When stress is prolonged or intense, the body experiences a heavy load. The symptoms characteristic of the first phase reappear. The human body can no longer To cope with them, and this or that physical disorder develops (for example, a stomach ulcer). This is how Hans Selye’s adaptation syndrome manifests. Thus, stress can cause serious diseases. Hans Selye wrote about this. Atherosclerosis, for example, was one of the subjects his research. Hans Selye proposed his neurogenic (stress) model.
The scientist died in 1982.After his death, the theory of Hans Selye was further developed. The results of his research were quoted in countless popular journals, as well as in 362 thousand scientific articles. That's just to find a cure for stress Hans still failed. Is it any wonder, because our life is one continuous tension (stress).
