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This volume presents a collection of 37 articles, all but one of which have appeared in the literature between 1955 and 1965. There is one summary and concluding chapter by Powell on psychosomatic medicine in relation to other disciplines.
The book is divided into nine sections: Introduction, Eating Disorders, Obesity, Anorexia Nervosa, Ulcer and Ulcerative Colitis, Allergic Disorders, Asthma, Adolescent Ailments, and School Problems. There is also a good index.
The first essay, “An Overview of Psychosomatic Disease,” is a clear, brief exposition of the anatomical and physiological substrata needed for an understanding of the subject together with a review of the search for a conceptual model. Special attention is called to the pathogenicity of being trapped in conflict or beset by bereavement.
Eating problems and the allergic disorders (including asthma) receive the most attention. Chapter 6, “Eating Problems” by Alfred Schwartz, is a good discussion of the genesis of eating problems in childhood together with helpful suggestions for their management. Chapter 7, by Hilde Bruch, deals with a special group of eating disorders in which disturbed communication is the essential pathogenic element