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This book consists of five papers and their discussion, given as a symposium on psychosomatic medicine before the Boston Psychoanalytic Society. Each of the five authors covers one aspect of the subject—namely, genetics, dynamics, research, and therapy. While numerous hypothetical concepts are formulated to explain the occurence of psychosomatic symptoms, all are based on clinical observations and integrated within the theoretical framework of Freudian psychology.
Sydney Margolin discusses “Genetic and Dynamic Psychophysiological Determinants.” He submits that psychosomatic symptoms are regressive psychophysiological states, wherein “the more archaic the ‘fantasy of function,’ the more autonomously the organ functions,” and the less participation there is of central, integrative regulation. By “fantasy of function,” he refers to the subjective concept of any organ in terms of sensations and experiences associated with it. That is, the organ acts as though “infantile homeostatic boundaries” were present; there is an “inhibition of appropriate voluntary mastery of the physiological responses.” Although he admits that regression rarely brings about the exact replica of the infantile state of affairs because of later learning and experiencing, he nevertheless distinguishes numerous