There is considerable evidence of close connections between ulcerative colitis

and psychosis, especially schizophrenia. It is, however, not clear why one person reacts with the somatic, another with the psychotic, 'break'. Some analysts fear that the analysis of patients with colitis may precipitate psychosis. Sperling does not; she has successfully analyzed children (some still followed by her ten years after) and one young adult in whom a psychotic break had seemed inevitable. She cautions against palliative psychotherapy, which has the effect of rewarding the patient for illness and thus perpetuating it.