Book Reviews

Abstract

Summary Independent evaluation of the psychological data revealed that subjects with peptic ulcer displayed evidence of major unresolved and persistent conflicts about dependency and oral gratification, the characteristics of which are described. Classification of the selected test population into two groups on the basis of criteria derived from the psychological tests was found to correlate (85 per cent) with the two groups (hyper and hypo-pepsinogen secretors) derived from the physiological tests. The study indicates that neither a high rate of gastric secretion nor a specific psychodynamic constellation is independently responsible for development of peptic ulcer. Together, however, these two parameters constitute the essential determinants in the precipitation of pepic ulcer on exposure to social situations noxious to the specific individual.