Psychosomatic Medicine 12:98-102 (1950)
© 1950 American Psychosomatic Society

Physical Symptoms During Pleasurable Emotional States

¹ Department of Psychiatry, Louisiana State University School of Medicine, New Orleans, La.

The occurrence of somatic changes during pleasurable emotional states is illustrated by 13 cases in which symptoms occurred during joy or elation as well as during such states as anxiety, resentment, and depression.

In some instances unconscious emotional disturbances may be responsible for the occurrence of symptoms during conscious pleasurable states. In other instances an altered physical state may be a factor in the production of symptoms during such states.

Although often distressing and rarely fatal, the chief significance of these symptoms lies in their misinterpretation by the patient whose resistance to a psychosomatic formulation of his problem may be enhanced by the occurrence of symptoms during periods of joy and elation.