Psychosexual Adjustment in Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia

Abstract

The hormones of the adrenal cortex play a critical part in both daily life and the reaction to stress. Aldosterone is crucial in the regulation of sodium balance and blood volume, and cortisol is needed both to assist in postural adaptations and to allow for the intermittent, rather than constant, availability of food. In acute stress, the output of cortisol is increased 5- to 10-fold by the actions of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis. The overlapping roles of aldosterone and cortisol are, as Monod said of each step in evolution, explainable if not predictable.What is less clear about the adrenal cortex, . . .