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The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 1950, Vol. XIX, No. 2, p. 158.
There are biological attachments and relationships to the mother other than the oral which are important psychologically and in the development of psychosomatic symptoms. Examples are the foetal relation to the mother via respiration, through the skin, first intrauterine and then by fondling, and bathing; and the locomotor relationship through being carried by the mother. The rôle of these relationships in the formation of symptoms in the respective physiological systems is analogous to the rôle of oral sucking in gastrointestinal disorders. These organ systems are pathways for the satisfaction of needs and are points to which regression leads. Emotional conflicts may be expressed over preoral paths just as over the oral.
Author's Abstract.