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Early attempts to correlate organic symptoms with psychodynamic factors were based on the premise that the personality functioned as a homogeneous unit. Specific organic conditions were thought to be characteristic of certain personality types, e.g., 'ulcer personality'. A modification of this 'personality-as-a-whole' concept was introduced with studies of 'personality profiles' wherein the correlation was sought between symptoms and the main configurations of the personality. The search for psychosomatic correlations was placed on a sounder footing when detailed study was directed to the specific conflicts which seemed most directly related to the symptoms. What was found characteristic was not a certain personality type but a typical conflict situation.
Psychosomatic symptoms represent a partial regression. They occur in all sorts of personalities. All phases of libidinal development are represented in varying degrees in the adult personality. The total personality depends on the proportions of all the trends, regressive and progressive. The partial regression represented by the psychosomatic symptom may serve to prevent a psychological regression so that individuals with psychosomatic symptoms may be the opposite of infantile in their outward personalities. In order to narrow the gap between the physiological and the psychological, it is necessary to study in detail the individual impulses and their interactions as well as their specific relations to the symptoms.