This monograph is a symposium on psychosomatic medicine presented by five lectures which cover the current trends of this concept. They are as follows: Genetic and Dynamic Psychophysiological Determinants of Pathphysiological Processes, by Sidney Margolin; Current Trends of Psychosomatic Research, by Roy R. Grinker; Problem of Specificity in Psychosomatic Process, by Lawrence S. Kubie; Genesis of Psychosomatic Symptoms in Infancy, by Margaret W. Gerard, and Problems of Therapy, by M. Ralph Kaufman. These papers are discussed by nine psychoanalists under the auspices of the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute.
The views expressed by these papers and discussions make very interesting reading. The book is well oriented and helpful. Their views imply that the treatment of a psychosomatic illness should restore the equilibrium at the infantile roots. Hence, psychoanalysis, or a therapy based on analytic principles, seems to be the treatment of choice for psychosomatic disorders.