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A number of recent reports suggest a relation between psychosomatic illness in children and the attitudes, feelings, and conflicts of the mother. Recently
a few writers have emphasized the importance of understanding the whole family for psychotherapy of such cases.
A three-year-old boy with intractable episodic vomiting was treated, along with his mother and stepfather, for eight months. The psychic structure of each member of the family was found to be relevant to the episodes of vomiting. The mother, a hysterical character who used oral regression as a defense against demands made on her by the birth of her child, overprotected the boy in reaction to her rejection of the infant. This led to his vomiting as a means of controlling and manipulating the mother through her guilt. The stepfather's conflicts over his unconscious strivings were intensified by the mutually possessive, domineering, and submissive attitudes of mother and son. His tension increased the anxiety of the mother and contributed to the child's symptomatic vomiting.
The authors conclude that collaborative psychotherapeutic efforts may be as efficacious in a shorter time, as more intensive psychotherapy with the child alone.