Interdependence of Psyche and Soma in Psychotherapeutic Processes*

Whatever the many physical mechanisms may be which influence the return of the psychotherapeutic patient to conditions characteristic of the increase of vitality, in the course of the change-over the factor which appears to influence every part of the mental, emotional, and physical make-up is psychobiologic pressure.

During our therapy we become aware that pressures cannot be removed by the alteration of the environment. When this alteration was attempted in the case of a person heavily burdened by environmental demands, it was noticed that sooner or later, the new, lenient environment was twisted and tangled in such a way that it exerted the same pressure which was present before the switch had taken place. In other words, every patient had a specific need for environmental pressures which elicited feelings of being worried, anxious, deserted, lonely or rejected. This environmental pressure corresponds to an internal pressure which is revealed during treatment as pressure coming from the restrictive parental images. It appears to be a law that environmental pressure can only be reduced when superego pressure is released. As long as there is a harsh, uncompromising superego, the patient will seek corresponding conditions in the environment.