ABSTRACT
Psycho-somatics is in many ways a curious subject, for if one ascends into the sphere of intellectualisation and loses contact with the actual patient, one soon finds that the term psycho-somatics loses its integrative function. Psycho-somatic patients are always complaining that the various doctors do not co-operate, but they become anxious when in fact they do meet to discuss the case. In the practice of psycho-somatics what the psychotherapist needs is the co-operation of a not too scientific physical doctor. A multiplication of clinical examples would not further the argument. There is no area of personality development that escapes being involved in a study of psycho-somatic disorder. The splitting of the psyche from the soma is a retrogressive phenomenon employing archaic residues in the setting up of a defence organisation. By contrast the tendency towards psycho-somatic integration is a part of forward movement in the developmental process.
