Growth hormone and cortisol responses to psychological stress: comparison of normal and neurotic subjects.

The mirror drawing test (MDT) was performed to induce acute psychological stress in 9 normal controls and 10 neurotic subjects. Plasma growth hormone (GH) and cortisol were determined serially before, during, and after the test. In controls the MDT caused no significant change in plasma GH level, while in neurotics plasma GH increased progressively following the test. The increase of cortisol also tended to be greater in neurotics as a group, but there was considerable overlap in individual responses. The maximum increments of GH in neurotics correlated inversely with those of cortisol. The results indicate: 1) effective psychological coping mechanisms operate in normal man to keep the hormonal response minimum. 2) GH response is a more adequate indicator than cortisol response to psychological stress in neurotics. 3) GH and cortisol may have different psychological correlates in neurotics.