Psychosomatic Medicine 17:218-226 (1955)
© 1955 American Psychosomatic Society

Nocturnal Gastric Secretions of Ulcer and Nonulcer Patients under Stress

¹ Veterans Administration Hospital, West Haven, Conn., and the Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.

The nocturnal gastric secretions of 5 ulcer patients were compared with those of 5 nonulcer patients under normal and under mild stress conditions.

Under normal conditions, the ulcer subjects all showed highly elevated gastric acidity throughout the night in comparison with the nonulcer group. Under stress, the nocturnal curves of the nonulcer group showed a marked elevation similar to but not as high as the normal curves of the ulcer group. The stress curves of the ulcer patients, on the other hand, showed a perceptible though insignificant decrease in acidity.

Both groups of subjects showed similar behavioral and verbal signs of anxiety during the period of stress. The difference between the two groups was attributed to the fact that the ulcer patients were already in a state of chronic anxiety and therefore were not as responsive to a small additional stress in terms of further elevation in gastric secretion as were the nonulcer patients.