In 1876, Josiah Macy, Jr, scion of a wealthy Nantucket mercantile family, died of yellow fever at age 38, when his daughter Kate was only 13. In 1930, at age 67, she established a charitable foundation in his name. During the next 15 years until her death, she donated the equivalent of $20 million annually (in today’s dollars), much of it during the Depression.
Archive for the ‘History of Stress’ Category
American Psychosomatic Society (1)
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010Kroenke & Mangelsdorff (2)
Friday, January 8th, 2010To continue discussion of the Kroenke & Mangelsdorff research*, let’s begin by looking at what became of all 567 symptoms (in 380 patients). For 2/3 of the symptoms, doctors did diagnostic testing or referred to a specialist. In the other 1/3, no evaluation was done beyond the initial visit. Treatment was recommended for only 55% of symptoms, and this took the form of a prescription in over ¾ of cases. There was nothing to suggest that anyone searched for hidden stresses linked to the symptoms (posts tagged with “Stress History” explain how this is done).
Kroenke & Mangelsdorff (1)
Thursday, January 7th, 2010Last year marked the 20th anniversary of one of the most frequently quoted studies in the stress illness literature. The paper reports a discovery that would have shocked me if I had read it during my training years. Their finding has profound implications for primary care practice.
Stress Illness in Ancient Times
Saturday, November 21st, 2009Stress-related illness is not a new disease. Greek physicians of the school of Hippocrates (460 – 377 BCE) recognized a disorder characterized by symptoms commonly seen in stress illness today: palpitations, migrating pain, difficulty breathing, a lump in the throat and others. This was diagnosed exclusively in women and attributed to the uterus wandering around inside the body. The Greek word for uterus (hystera) gave the disorder its name, hysteria, and this was a common diagnosis through the early 20th century. The term was finally dropped by the American Psychiatric Association in 1980, replaced with conversion disorder.
Sigmund Freud’s Biggest Slips
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009Two weeks before Sigmund Freud’s fortieth birthday in 1896, he presented a lecture to his Viennese colleagues on the cause of the neuroses, to “show them the solution of a thousands-years-old problem.” The evening ended in humiliation when one of the most distinguished listeners dismissed his work as a “scientific fairly tale.” The talk even harmed his professional practice because he later wrote to a friend that a “password has been given out to abandon me.” Though many scientific pioneers have been misjudged by their contemporaries, in this case the assessment by the audience was correct.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Doctor
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009In The Scarlet Letter (1850), Nathaniel Hawthorne describes the physician Roger Chillingworth as he evaluates his patient, the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. His approach is a model for health care professionals who seek to help patients understand and cope with hidden stresses.
