The Psychoanalytic Treatment of a Man Suffering with Ulcerative Colitis1

Several years ago a patient came to the author seeking analytic treatment for the ulcerative colitis from which he suffered. Neither at that time nor since did the literature yield much that was conclusive as to theory or helpful in the conduct of therapy. A fair number of authors warned against the use of analytic methods for one reason or another.

In this paper the attempt is made to evaluate experiences with this patient in the light of what was reported as well as what appeared to be crucial situations in the patient's illness and recovery.

The first contact with him was through a letter he had written to the referring psychiatrist whom he had seen in consultation. In it he stated that he had had numerous attacks of ulcerative colitis but was then in a remission. His brother, who suffered from the same disease, was under the care of an analyst in another city and had been more or less symptom-free for several years. He himself had been told by his proctologist that he was "inordinately tense," and psychiatric consultation was recommended. He was seen a few days later, in May 1945.

He was a tall, good-looking man, meticulously dressed, extremely courteous, but stern, almost haughty in expression and manner. He brought with him two documents, his time schedule and a chronological table of the history of his illness. He was a