Explicit incestuous motifs and emotional crises in psychosomatic patients

This paper examines the emergence of incestuous motifs in the first four interviews of 50 people seeking psychotherapy. Results show a percentage (6%) which is neither relevant nor specific for any kind of diagnosis. The progress in psychotherapy of two groups of 8 patients, psychosomatic + neurotic respectively, is then compared with regard to the same motifs. All the patients underwent psychoanalytic psychotherapy twice a week for at least 2 years, between 1979 and 1982. Among the patients treated with psychotherapy, the psychosomatic subjects proved to have the weaker defense mechanisms. Most of these patients (87.5%) showed a tendency to act specific emotions through temporary exacerbations of their organic disease.