Psychosomatic medicine, never recognized as a special discipline or subspecialty, nonetheless commanded much respect in the forties and fifties and many significant investigations were reported. However, in more recent years, fewer meaningful clinical studies have appeared, and the research emphasis has shifted to further testing, refinement, and exploration utilizing newer techniques, approaches, and theoretical conceptualizations from the basic and social sciences.

The volume under review consists of fourteen papers, all written by American investigators and all previously published in the journal, Psychosomatic Medicine. Five members of the editorial board, L. A. Gottschalk, P. H. Knapp, M. F. Reiser, J. D. Sapira,