The author treated a twenty-three-year-old male student who presented a continuous five-year history of peptic ulcer confirmed by X-ray. The treatment consisted of thirty-six analytic sessions during a period of ten months. Patient and doctor sat face to face. The author presented the material to illustrate both the method of brief therapy as well as the psychosomatic correlations. The first step was to allow the patient to gratify his dependent needs in the treatment without arousing shame. Defensive reactions to this craving thus became unnecessary: the patient was able to overcome denial of dependence, incapacity to show emotion and various defensive aggressions and guilt reactions. The