ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews aspects of neuroendocrine function concentrating on those areas that have been studied in relation to anxiety or closely related affect states. M. Frankenhaeuser has extensively studied the sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HYPAC) axis. G. C. Curtis, M. Buxton, D. Lippman, R. M. Nesse, and J. Wright stated that clear activation of the HYPAC system occurs with stimuli of sufficient magnitude, stimuli generally referred to as “stressors". The lack of HYPAC response in some individuals exposed to apparently very disturbing circumstances has been ascribed to the effectiveness of psychological defenses, a psychological contribution to inter-individual response variability. Curtis et al. suggest that HYPAC activation may not be a part of phobic anxiety, an interesting and testable possibility. They further suggest that the HYPAC response to phobic anxiety may attenuate with time and after many exposures to the phobic object.
