Stimulated by the work of Ferenczi and Groddeck the author postulates (1) that in every organic illness there is a miniature neurosis, (2) that the instinctual forces of the unconscious furnish the basis for the particular course of the organic illness, and (3) that analysis can grasp and explain those mental processes which change the modalities of the illness in the organic sphere. The clinical part of the paper, one quarter of the whole, mentions the improvement in the symptoms of certain illnesses (shaking palsies, asthma, angina pectoris, etc.) when the neurotic anxiety and