The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has updated its Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, including with new information specifically addressed to individuals in the European Economic Area. As described in the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, this website utilizes cookies, including for the purpose of offering an optimal online experience and services tailored to your preferences.

Please read the entire Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. By closing this message, browsing this website, continuing the navigation, or otherwise continuing to use the APA's websites, you confirm that you understand and accept the terms of the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, including the utilization of cookies.

×
Published Online:https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.103.5.700

Twenty men with peptic ulcers were studied from the psychosomatic point of view. None were psychologically mature. All of them had strong dependent desires which were secondary to either rejection or spoiling in early childhood. One group utilized the mechanism of overcompensation to deny these desires, resulting in the overt character picture of the driving, hard-working, ambitious business man. However, we found that the majority of our patients in a charity hospital were either outwardly passive and effeminate or openly acted out their deep oral desires. Ulcer symptoms developed in all of our patients as responses to frustration of these cravings, when the various defense mechanisms they used to handle such conflicts proved inadequate.

Access content

To read the fulltext, please use one of the options below to sign in or purchase access.