[Significance of object loss on the course of psychosomatic diseases]

Psychosomatic diseases are organic diseases in the pathogenesis of which a psychic factor has an important significance. They are no nosological unit. Psychotherapeutic experience with such patients causes us to search for the different measure of this psychic disturbance. The authors deal with the research on narcissism and object loss which has again been performed since 10 years. The psychosomatic patient has difficulties with overcoming discouraging events (object losses) which evoke a depressive reaction in him. Pathophysiological connections between the reactive depression and the organic lesion are discussed. The psychotherapy has a double task: actual influence on the depressive reaction as well as the aid of learning a more suitable form of explanation of the discouragement.