Psychosomatic Medicine 15:513-522 (1953)
© 1953 American Psychosomatic Society

Chronic Ulcerative Colitis

Effect of a Specific Psychotherapeutic Measure

¹ Department of Internal Medicine, University of California Medical Center, Los Angeles

A case of chronic ulcerative colitis of nine years' duration is presented. Of interest was the relationship of sudden symptomatic improvement of several months' duration to a single event in therapy. The reconstruction of the meaning of this event as "replacement therapy" seems clear from the psychodynamic background leading up to the onset of the disease. The fact that the improvement preceded any verbal interpretation or apparent intellectual comprehension of the psychological factors involved emphasizes the basic difference in technic of therapy necessary in some psychosomatic illnesses. The utility of such techniques to the general physician is discussed briefly.