You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
Grinker discusses opinions and experimental findings that must be considered in formulating theory for a psychosomatic approach to anxiety. We may tentatively classify categories of somatic disturbance relating to anxiety without consideration of the various types of anxiety (which may, however, be associated with variously patterned somatic responses). Some processes associated with the emergency state produce anxiety signals which seem to be concerned with preparation for and maintenance of the bodily economy at that time. Some homeostatic processes tend to counteract the emergency defenses in order to maintain the equilibrium of the organism and thus serve as defensive maneuvers which oppose the overintense responses. There are some overreactive processes, perhaps associated with traumatic or disintegrative anxiety, in which the function of organ systems becomes so disturbed that they exceed the limits of health. There are long-lasting effects resulting in exhaustion of function and slow wearing out of tissues that are habitually used in the service of activity concomitant with anxiety.
Our task is to attempt to distinguish the patterns of somatic response correlated with special types of anxiety, and to relate the somatic participation in anxiety to the level of economy of the physiological systems. These need to be related in time and quantity to the disturbance in such other systems as the psychological or behavioral. These researches are necessary for the understanding of anxiety as a total organismic response to stimuli that threaten the integrity of the organism, and for establishing general laws of psychosomatic organization.