Psychotherapy in rheumatoid arthritis--a parallel-process study of psychic state and course of rheumatic disease

In this study, well-known psychosomatic (psychoneuroimmunological) connections have been used for therapeutic purposes. Fifteen patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were treated with analytical insight therapy for 60-90 min weekly during 10 months to 4.5 years (median 3.3 years). Six patients showed great and largely continuous improvement, both psychic and physical, throughout the period of psychotherapy and often for a long time thereafter. In another five cases, improvements in psychic state and the joint disease took place over a period of 1-2 years. Later, when the emotional channels to childhood traumata were opened, these five patients relapsed and the course of their disease became more variable. In four cases, the connections between psychic state and the course of the joint disease were more varied throughout the period of psychotherapy. In the studied group the correlation between psychic state and course of rheumatic disease was highly significant. The probability of the outcome of the study being due to chance alone is considered very small, especially taking into account the fact that RA is a chronic progressive disease.