A generalized response to protracted stress?

The authors delineate the similarity of previously reported behavioral and cognitive changes in two disparate groups, prisoners of war released from North Vietnam and Antarctic wintering personnel. The consonance of the changes in these two groups, each exposed to a protracted stress situation, is discussed with regard to several existing theories of stress response. The resultant constellation in the two groups is viewed as a maximal adaptation to unremitting stressors. The authors suggest the observed changes represent a generalized response, a predictable behavioral final common pathway in situations of protracted stress.