A psychosomatic approach to the globus hystericus syndrome

Twenty patients with lump in the throat as their main subjective symptom, were examined otorhinolaryngologically, radiographically, and psychiatrically with special attention to psychosomatic aspects. The control materials consisted of matched sample subjects of the total population, and of the total patient material treated at a general hospital. A considerably greater number of psychic disturbances were found in globus patients than in the matching control material. The personality picture of the patients was markedly obsessive possibly suggesting a psychosomatic syndrome rather than a pure hysterical conversion syndrome, at least in part of the patients. The globus patients could be divided into two groups, equal in size, according to the presence or absence of psychic disturbances. The group with manifest psychic disturbances had often experienced some significant life incident prior to the appearance of the globus syndrome; they also displayed few somatic findings, which, on the other hand, were abundant in psychically healthy patients.