Rosen and Appel view psychosomatic phenomena as 'organ psychoses'. In such patients, a hypothetical predisposition to extreme organ-system lability permits a 'malignant' degree of hypercathexis of the affected organ. This is in contrast to mere erotization of the affected organ such as occurs in neurotics. It is further suggested that such patients will manifest the grave conflict in varying degrees of psychotic behavior patterns when somatic manifestations improve under treatment.