James P. Henry, M.D.

1991 Hans Selye Award

James P. Henry, M.D., Professor of Medicine at Loma Linda University and Drew Medical College attended Hans Selye’s seminars at McGill University in 1941. He is perhaps best known for his delineation of different hormonal changes in the defense and defeat reactions to stress and their relationship to hypertension, cardiovascular disease, abnormal heart rhythms and accelerated atherosclerosis. The defense response appears to play an important role in these processes, with the defeat reaction being activated in chronic stress, especially if of a severe nature. In the worst case, both are operative: the defense-defeat response activating the sympatho-adrenomedullary and hypophyseal-adrenocortical pathways, respectively. Much of the impetus for these findings came from his observations on social relationships in experimental animals and his multi-generational mouse colonies and “mouse city.” Jim was familiar with Montreux because of his close association with Carl Jung and interest in Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious and the predisposition to symbolize situations by “archetypes” or primordial images. He had extended Jung’s concepts with his own investigations that demonstrated a striking similarity between independently developed symbols and mandalas in different cultures across time. In his book Instinct, Archetypes and Symbols: An Approach to the Physiology of Religious Experience , he offered a neurophysiological explanation for many of these psychological and philosophical aspects of religion. As a physician in the U.S. Airforce, he was involved in the study of pilot performance at very high altitudes and subsequently investigated the cardiovascular responses of chimpanzees in sub orbital flights. This information was crucial before attempting to put a man in orbit and Jim was one of the first astronaut physicians. He was the co-developer of the first space suit and participated in the flights of John Glenn and Alan Sheppard. It was known that weightlessness induced a prompt and significant diuresis and since this was less in the supine position it was generally assumed that this was induced by increased right atrial pressure resulting from the relative absence of lower body stimuli. Jim and Otto Gauer proved, in an experimental model, that this was initiated by volume rather than pressure receptors in the right atrium. What is now called the Henry-Gauer reflex had crucial implications for protection from protracted exposure to weightlessness and the ability of astronauts to do space walks and extraterrestrial work. He was one of the first to point out the role of oxytocin in social behaviors, significantly advanced our understanding of REM sleep and delineated the brain DNA and protein changes that occur when experimental animals learn a motor habit. Those who accompanied him on rounds will attest to his warmth and compassion as a physician. Following his untimely death, a special supplement to Acta Physiologica Scandinavica was organized by Björn Folkow and published in 1997. As I wrote in the chapter I was asked to contribute, he was a true Renaissance figure and “Those who were privileged to know him will surely agree that we are not apt to see the likes of this gentle, gracious and humble ‘Man For All Seasons’ soon again.”