CONDITIONS OF STRESS IN UNDERSEA WARFARE 



419 



from above, may experience all the blood 

 pressure, cardiac, vasomotor and gastroin- 

 testinal changes he might have if he were 

 permitted to run or to fight. Under the 

 circumstances the organic changes may be 

 described primarily as emotional, whereas 

 if the same changes were associated with 

 running or fighting, the organic activities 

 would be considered physiologically adaptive, 

 and would be regarded as "emotional" only 

 secondarily and to such extent as they were 

 in excess of and inappropriate to the physio- 

 logical need. More important, if possible, 

 is the fact that these organic changes — in- 

 crease of blood pressure, etc., occurring in- 

 appropriately, in excess, and without meta- 

 bohc demand — may in turn set up extended 

 sequences of organic compensatory changes 

 or "side reactions" which may be observed 

 later as disturbances of digestion and of 

 central nervous function persisting for hours 

 and days following the experience. In phys- 

 iology as in pharmacology we may often 

 have to consider secondary as well as primary 

 sites of action. A gastrointestinal upset 

 may, for example, represent a compensatory 

 "side effect" of the sympathicoadrenal mo- 

 bihzation consequent to a disagreement with 

 one's superior officer. The nausea and ano- 

 rexia sometimes reported days following 

 depth bombing may be such an effect. Re- 

 actions of this kind may on occasion charac- 

 terize operational stress, combat fatigue, etc., 

 and accordingly they deserve serious con- 

 sideration. 



D. Conditions of Physiologic Impairment 

 Accessory to and Aggravating Effects of Stress. 

 Of extremely great importance for present 

 consideration must also be a number of con- 

 ditions not directly or strictly resulting in 

 stress. These include certain conditions 

 of habitability and other factors for 

 which there is no direct physiological com- 

 pensation. These are conditions which, per- 

 sisting over a period, may become debili- 

 tating. Among such conditions are the loss 

 of physical tone due to deficiency of dietary 



factors, lack of vitamines A, B, and C in 

 particular, exhaustion, irregularity of meals, 

 impairment of autonomic balance, excessive 

 temperature, humidity, skin irritation, loss 

 of sleep, and adrenocortical deficiency. On 

 the psychological side are boredom, loss of 

 esprit de corps, lack of "morale," and lack 

 of interest in performance of a mission. This 

 latter state of mind has been noted to result 

 on long and routine patrols, and has been 

 observed to improve following successful en- 

 gagement of the enemy, with effects even on 

 the physical states of the men. With this 

 in mind the possible role of the "state of 

 consciousness" will be considered as a factor 

 in response to stress. (See Section IV.) 



II. Evaluation of Conditions of Stress 

 IN Undersea Warfare 



The physiological effects of the outstand- 

 ing types of stress such as stresses due to 

 oxygen lack, to extremes of temperature, to 

 fatigue, to loss of sleep, and even to fear, 

 have been extensively studied and the re- 

 sults summarized in the hterature.^ There 

 is little point in reannotating an already ex- 

 tensive bibhography on these topics. A 

 profitable consideration would: 



a. Show the relation of these homeostatic 

 and emergency functions to prevailing or 

 subsequent emotional states. 



b. Show how the organic, autonomic and 

 other physiological conditions feed back into 

 and affect the nei-vous system. 



c. Show how rational evaluation of these 

 conditions may provide better means of ad- 

 justing and selecting human capacity for the 

 type of psychophysiological stress en- 

 countered in undersea warfare. 



d. Evaluate methods of testing and se- 

 lecting human capacity for the type of psy- 

 chological stress encountered in undersea 

 warfare. 



e. Suggest desirable changes in submarines 

 or their mode of operation. 



1 Cf. 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 23, 30, 31, 33,36, 

 45, 52, 64, 70, 76, 85, 86, 90, 93, 99, 102. 



