Many organically injured merchant seamen admitted to the U. S. Marine Hospitals display a degree of physical and emotional disturbance which is disproportionate to the severity of the organic lesion. Four cases are reported in which psychotherapy in conjunction with hypnosis and/or amytal narcosis effected a notable improvement. The manifest symptoms included epilepsy, marked intellectual impairment with dullness and confusion, exaggerated deafness in a case of actual injury to the auditory nerve, and the signs usually associated with cerebral arteriosclerosis. Previously existing anxieties attached themselves to the organic lesion so that the latter became distorted or enhanced. Treatment must be vigorously directed toward the emotional maladjustment to avert the development of chronic disability.