A twenty-seven-year-old man defended himself against various stresses while in the army by developing sleepiness and fatigue. These defenses became more pronounced during the two years following his discharge. Then the tiredness and sleepiness, now accompanied by weight loss and obvious pigmentation, led to the diagnosis of Addison's disease. 'Those psychic defense mechanisms that have served as the patient's major adaptive reactions to stress seem to parallel precisely the chief symptoms of his somatic disease complex.'