Abstract
Since Franz Alexander (1950) gave prominence to the Holy Seven Psychosomatic Diseases, the field of psychosomatic medicine has come a long way. While Alexander’s emphasis on essential hypertension, thyrotoxicosis, bronchial asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, peptic ulcer, ulcerative colitis, and neurodermatitis may have been inadvertent, it nevertheless established in the minds of several generations of physicians that these were the psychosomatic diseases, while implying that other diseases were not so or less so. Their designation as diseases in which psychological determinants could be identified implied that they could be treated by psychotherapy. Although there are some studies suggesting that some of these diseases at some stages in some individuals in specific circumstances can be ameliorated if not cured with psychodynamically oriented psychotherapy, there has not been overwhelming success with this approach (Karush, Daniels, O’Connor, et al., 1969). Alexander’s work is perhaps more notable in his identification of other factors involved in the precipitation of disease processes. His emphasis on the occurrence of an environmental event proximal to the disease onset has been an invaluable concept for those of us studying and treating disease. It is a hypothesis that motivates much of the research in psychosomatic medicine and psychiatry today (Holmes & Rahe, 1967; Paykel, Prusoff, & Uhlenhuth, 1971). His further suggestion that the environmental event serving to precipitate disease reevokes latent, unresolved conflicts derived from early infantile childhood experience remains an intriguing hypothesis. The idea that the nature of the conflict has specificity for the specific disease process is more difficult to substantiate. Nevertheless, this suggestion has continued to intrigue researchers over the past quarter century (Engel, 1956; Nemiah & Sifneos, 1964).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alexander, F. Psychosomatic medicine. New York: Norton, 1950.
Alexander, F., and French, T. M. Studies in psychosomatic medicine. New York: Ronald Press, 1948.
Anthony, E. J. The impact of mental illness on family life. American Journal of Psychiatry, 1970, 127, 138–146.
Bahnson, C. B., and Wardwell, W. I. Parent constellation and psychosexual identification in male patients with myocardial infarction. Psychological Research, 1962, 10, 831–842.
Bridger, W. H. Sensory discrimination and autonomic function in the newborn. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 1962, 1, 67–82.
Brown, F. Childhood bereavement and subsequent psychiatric disorder. British Journal of Psychiatry, 1966, 112, 1035–1041.
Cannon, W. B. Bodily changes in pain, hunger, fear and rage. New York: Appleton, 1920.
Cassell, J., Heyden, S., Bartel, A. G., et al. Incidence of coronary heart disease by ethnic groups, social class and sex. Archives of Internal Medicine, 1971, 128, 901–906.
Cassem, N. H., and Hackett, T. P. Psychiatric consultation in a coronary care unit. Annals of Intermediate Medicine, 1971, 75, 9–14.
Descartes, R. Les meditations metaphysiques. D. Mouchet, Paris, 1724.
Deutsche, F., Thompson, D., Pinderhughes, C., et al. Body, mind and the sensory gateways. New York: Karger, 1962.
Dunbar, H. F. Emotions and bodily changes: A survey of literature on psychosomatic interrelationships. New York: Columbia University Press, 1954.
Engel, G. L. Studies of ulcerative colitis. IV. The significance of headaches. Psychosomatic Medicine, 1956, 18, 334–346.
Engel, G. L. Psychological development in health and disease. Philadelphia: Saunders, 1962.
Engel, G. L. Anxiety and depression-withdrawal: The primary affects of unpleasure. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 1962, 43, 89–97.
Engel, G. L. A reconsideration of the role of conversion in somatic disease. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 1968, 9, 316–326.
Engel, G. L., and Schmale, A. Psychoanalytic theory of somatic disorder: Conversion, specificity and the disease-onset situation. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 1967, 15, 344.
Erikson, E. Childhood and society ( 2nd ed. ). New York: Norton, 1963.
Feinstein, A. R. Clinical judgment. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1967.
Freud, S. The justification for detaching from neurosthenia a particular syndrome: The anxiety neurosis (1894). In E. Jones (Ed.), Sigmund Freud: Collected papers. New York: Basic Books, 1959.
Friedman, D. G. Human infancy: An evolutionary perspective. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc., 1974.
Friedman, M., and Rosenman, R. H. Overt behavior pattern in coronary disease: Detection of overt behavior pattern A in patients with coronary disease by a new psychophysiological procedure. Journal of the American Medical Association, 1960, 173, 1320–1325.
Friedman, M., and Rosenman, R. H. Association of specific overt behavior pattern with blood and cardio vascular findings. Journal of the American Medical Association, 1969, 169, 1286–1296.
Gaddini, R. Transitional objects and the process of individuation: A study in three different social groups. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychology, 1970, 9, 347–365.
Gamow, G. Expanding universe and the origin of galaxies. Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1953.
Gardner, H. The quest for mind. New York: Knopf, 1973.
Garma, A. The unconscious images in the genesis of peptic ulcer. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 1960, 41, 444.
Gellhorn, E. The tuning of the nervous system: Physiological foundations and implications for behavior. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 1967, 10, 559–591.
Greene, W. A., Jr. Psychological factors and reticuloendothelial disease. I. Preliminary observations on a group of males with lymphomas and leukemias. Psychosomatic Medicine, 1954, 16, 220–230.
Greene, W. A., Jr., Young, L. E., and Swisher, S. N. Psychological factors and reticuloendothelial disease. II. Observations on a group of women with lymphomas and leukemias. Psychosomatic Medicine, 1956, 18, 284–303.
Grinker, R. R. Toward a unified theory of human behavior: An introduction to general systems theory ( 2nd ed. ). New York: Basic Books, 1967.
Groddeck, G. The book of the it. New York: New American Library, 1961.
Groen, J. J. Die klinisch-wissenshaftliche Unterschungmethodik in der psychosomatischen Medizin. Verhandlungen der Deutschen Gesellschaft far Inneres Medizin, 1967, 73, 17–27.
Hamburg, D., Hamburg, B., and deGoza, S. Adaptive problems and mechanisms in severely burned patients. Psychiatry, 1953, 16, 1–20.
Harburg, E., Schutt, W. J., Erfurt, J. C., et al. Method for estimating heredity and stress. I. A pilot study of blood pressure among Negroes in high and low stress areas, Detroit, 1966–67. Journal of Chronic Diseases, 1970, 22, 69–81.
Hinkle, L. E., Whitney, L. H., Hehman, E. W., et al. Occupation, education, and coronary artery disease. Science, 1968, 161, 238–246.
Holmes, T. H., and Rahe, R. H. The social readjustment rating scale. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 1967, 11, 213–218.
Jackson, D., Yalom, I. Family research in the problem of ulcerative colitis. Archives of General Psychiatry, 1966, 15, 410–418.
James, W. What is an emotion? Mind, 1884.
Janis, I. L. Psychological stress: Psychoanalytic and behavioral studies of surgical patients. New York: Wiley, 1958.
Kahn, R. L., Goldfarb, A. I., Pollack, M., and Peck, A. Brief objective measures for the determination of mental status in the aged. American Journal of Psychiatry, 1960, 177, 326–328.
Karush, A., Daniels, G. E., O’Connor, J. F., et al. The response to psychotherapy in chronic ulcerative colitis. Il. Factors arising from the therapeutic situation. Psychosomatic Medicine, 1969, 31, 201–226.
Kasl, S. V., Cobb, S. Blood pressure changes in men undergoing job loss. Psychosomatic Medicine, 1970, 32, 19–38.
Kellam, S., Branch, J. D., Agrawal, K. C., and Ensminger, M. Mental health and going to school. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1975.
Kimball, C. P. Psychological responses to the experience of open-heart surgery. I. American Journal of Psychiatry, 1969, 126, 348–359.
Kimball, C. P. Techniques of interviewing. I. Interviewing and the meaning of the symptom. Annals of Internal Medicine, 1969, 71, 147–153. (b)
Kimball, C. P. Techniques of interviewing. III. The patient’s personality and the interview process. Medical Insight, 1972, 4, 26–40.
Kimball, C. P. A liaison department of psychiatry. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 1973, 22, 219–225.
Kimball, C. P. The experience of cardiac surgery. V. Psychological patterns and prediction of outcome. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 1973, 22, 310–319.
Kimball, C. P. Delirium. In Howard F. Conn (Ed.), Current therapy 1974, 1974, 833–835.
Kimball, C. P. Medical psychotherapy. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 1975, 25, 193–200.
Kimball, C. P. The ethics of a personal medicine. Medical Clinics of North America, 1977, 61, 867–877.
Kimball, C. P. Psychosomatic theory and its contribution to chronic illness. In G. Usdin (Ed.), Psychiatric medicine. New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1977, pp. 259–333.
Kimball, C. P. The languages of psychosomatic medicine. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics. 1977, 28, 1–12.
Kimball, C. P. Teaching and training of psychosomatic approach: The education of the medical student. Presented at the World Psychiatric Society, Honolulu, Hawaii, August 29, 1977. (d) (in press)
Klein, R. F., Kliner, V. A., Zipes, D. P., et al. Transfer from a coronary care unit. Archives of Internal Medicine, 1968, 122, 104–108.
Koch, R. Die Aetiologie der tuberkulose physiologischen Gesellschaft Berlin 24 Marz cr gehaltenen Vortrage. Berlin, A. Hirschwald, 1882.
Kohlberg, L. A cognitive-developmental approach to moral education. The Humanist, 1972, Nov./ Dec., 13–16.
Kokkedee, J. The quark model. New York: Benjamin, 1969.
Kuller, L., and Reisler, D. M. An explanation for variations in distribution of stroke and arteriosclerotic heart disease among populations and racial groups. American Journal of Epidemiology, 1971, 93, 1–9.
Levine, R. A. Culture, behavior and personality. Chicago: Aldine, 1973.
Lindemann, E. Symptomatology and management of acute grief. American Journal of Psychiatry, 1944, 101, 141–148.
Manusco, T. F., Coulter, E. J., and MacDonald, E. J. Migration and cancer mortality experience—a study of native and southern born non-white Ohio residents. In D. D. Hemphill (Ed.), Trace substances in environmental health. VI. A symposium. Columbia. University of Missouri, 1973.
Marty, P., and d’Muzan, M. La pensée operatoire. Revue Francaise de Psychoanalysis, 1963, Suppl. 1345, Vol. 27.
McGough, J. L. Psychobiology: Behavior from a biological perspective. New York: Academic Press, 1971.
McIntyre, J. S. St. Anselm and his critics: A reinterpretation of the Cur Deus Homo. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1954.
Mechanic, D. The concept of illness behavior. Journal of Chronic Diseases, 1962, 15, 189–194.
Miller, G., and DiCara, L. Learning of visceral and glandular responses. Science, 1969, 163, 434–445.
Minuchin, S., Baker, L., Rosman, B., Liebman, R., Milman, L., and Todd, T. A conceptual model of psy chosomatic illness in children. Archives of General Psychiatry, 1975, 32, 1031–1038.
Mirsky, I. A. Physiologic, psychologic and social determinants in the etiology of duodenal ulcer. American Journal of Digestive Diseases, 1958, 3, 285–314.
Nemiah, J., Sifneos, P. Final report on NIMH Project No. M-262(c). A study of the specificity of current psychological factors involved in the production of psychosomatic disease, each suffering from two psychosomatic illnesses, 1964.
Nemiah, J., and Sifneos, P. Affect and fantasy in patients with psychosomatic disorders. In Hill (Ed.), Modern trends in psychosomatic medicine. II. London. Butterworth, 1970, pp. 26–34.
Olin, H. S., and Hackett, T. P. The denial of chest pain in 32 patients with acute myocardial infarction. Journal of the American Medical Association, 1964, 190, 977–981.
Parsons, T. The social system. Glencoe, Ill.: Free Press, 1951.
Pavlov, I. P. Conditioned reflexes (trans. by G. V. Anrep ). London: Oxford University Press, 1927.
Paykel, E. S., Prusoff, B. A., and Uhlenhuth, E. H. Scaling of life events. Archives of General Psychiatry, 1971, 25, 340–347.
Potter, van R. Bioethics: Bridge to the future. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1971.
Pratt, J. H. The “home sanatorium” treatment of consumption. Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, 1906, 154, 210–216.
Rahe, R. H. Stress and strain in coronary heart disease. Journal of the South Carolina Medical Association (Supplement), 1976, 72, 7–14.
Reiser, M. Theoretical considerations of the role of psychological factors in pathogenesis and etiology of essential hypertension. In M. Koster, H. Musaph, and P. Visser (Eds.), Psychosomatics in Essential Hypertension. Bibliotheca Psychiatrica, 1970, 144, 117–124.
Ruesch, J. The infantile personality. Psychosomatic Medicine, 1948, 10, 134–144.
Sapira, J. D., Scheilp, R., Monaity, B., et al. Differences in perception between hypertensive and normotensive populations. Psychosomatic Medicine, 1971 33, 239–250.
Selye, H. The stress of life. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1956, pp. 128–148.
Selzer, H. S., Fajans, S., and Conn, J. W. Diabetes, 1956, 5, 437.
Seubert, K. Das naturliche System der chemischen Elemente (Abhandlungen von Lothar Meyer and D. Mendeleev). Leipzig: W. Engelman, 1895.
Shekelle, R. B., Ostfeld, A. M., and Paul, O. Social status and incidence of coronary artery disease. Journal of Chronic Diseases, 1969, 22, 381–394.
Sifneos, P. E. Two different kinds of psychotherapy of short duration. American Journal of Psychiatry, 123, 1069–1074, 1967.
Sifneos, P. E. A reconsideration of psychosomatic symptom formations in view of recent clinical observations. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 1974, 24, 151–155.
Skinner, B. F. Operant behavior. American Journal of Psychology, 1963, 18, 503–515.
Thomas, C. B., and Greenstreet, R. L. Psychobiological characteristics in youth as predictors of five disease states: Suicide, mental illness, hypertension, coronary heart disease and tumor. Johns Hopkins Medical Journal, 1973, 132, 16–43.
Uhlenhuth, E. H., and Paykel, E. S. Symptom intensity and life events. Archives of General Psychiatry, 1973, 28, 473–477.
Visotsky, H. M., Hamburg, D. A., Goss, M. E., and Lebovits, B. Coping behavior under extreme stress. Archives of General Psychiatry, 1961, 5, 27–52.
Voth, M. M., Holzman, P. S., Katz, J. B., et al. Thyroid “hot spots”: Their relationships to life stress. Psychosomatic Medicine, 1970, 32, 561–568.
Weiner, H., Thaler, M., Reiser, M. F., et al. Etiology of duodenal ulcer. Psychosomatic Medicine, 1957, 19, 1–10.
Williams, R. B., Jr., Kimball, C. P., and Willard, H. N. The influence of interpersonal interaction upon diastolic blood pressure. Psychosomatic Medicine, 1972, 32, 194–198.
Wilson, E. Sociobiology: The new synthesis. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1975.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1978 Plenum Press, New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kimball, C.P. (1978). Diagnosing Psychosomatic Situations. In: Wolman, B.B. (eds) Clinical Diagnosis of Mental Disorders. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-2490-4_19
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-2490-4_19
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-2492-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-2490-4
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive