Psychosomatic Medicine 14:261-276 (1952)
© 1952 American Psychosomatic Society

"Psychosomatic" Phenomena in Animals

¹ Department of Psychology and Institute of Human Relations, Yale University New Haven, Conn.

We have surveyed several lines of evidence to show that in many infrahuman species various physiological processes such as ovula-tion and lactation are normally controlled in part by events in the animal's environment.

In the absence of appropriate stimulation the internal functions are disturbed. Interference with the normal stimulus-response relations may occur as a result of an inhibiting experience. With experimental technics it is feasible to reproduce in animals certain symptoms which are often labelled "psychogenic" when they appear in human patients.

Three proposals have been advanced:

In addition to studies of psychosomatic illness there is need for more knowledge of "psychosomatic health." Better understanding of the factors promoting adaptive responses to various life situations will facilitate the interpretation of cases of malfunction.

Experimental investigations of such adaptive physiologic responses to environmental conditions can fruitfully be attempted with lower animals. Here the stimulating situation can be controlled and the internal response can be directly and analytically studied.

In addition to examining the normal, adaptive reactions of animals, there is the proved possibility of rendering several responses maladaptive. The experimental creation of "psychosomatic" disturbances in other species offers excellent opportunities for advancing our understanding of the basic changes involved in many types of human illness.