[Death anxiety in thyrotoxicosis]

After a historical review, the authors disclose a study of cases of thyrotoxicosis and postulate the participation of a psychosomatic process in the development of this disease. Alexander (1951) pointed out that thyroïdal hypersecretion could be related to very early exposure to unassumable responsibilities. Later, the same author (1965), in a more comprehensive study, hypothesized that thyroïdal hypersecretion comes out as a result of a fight against the idea of death. Our study tends to confirm this view, as it appears that the patients had all been faced with the death (or a near escape from death) of a close relative. The traumatic event had therefore been real and severe and had left a vivid memory.