Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-16T19:23:02.025Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Treatment of “Nervous Diarrhoea” and Other Conditioned Autonomic Disorders by Desensitization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Samuel I. Cohen  and
John L. Reed
John L. Reed
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry London Hospital, E.1
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Disturbance of functions controlled by the autonomic nervous system may be due to changes in the emotional state, and are part of normal reactions to stress. Their general occurrence is reflected in phrases like “it makes me sick” and “to sweat with fear”. In some groups of people these autonomic disturbances are not confined to stressful situations but become more general and frequent and so more disabling. For instance, in patients with affective illnesses, symptoms of autonomic origin are common and are relieved by successful treatment of the underlying illness. Again, there is a group of patients who complain of these symptoms but who show little affective disorder. In these patients the autonomic symptoms are provoked by specific situations which are not particularly stressful to normal people, e.g. nausea occurs when eating in company or diarrhoea when travelling; outside these specific situations symptoms do not occur. Although these patients may complain of some anxiety, the physical symptom is the major complaint and the anxiety is often attributed to this.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 114 , Issue 515 , October 1968 , pp. 1275 - 1280
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1968 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bykov, K. M. (1953). “New data on the physiology and pathology of the cerebral cortex.” 19th International Physiological Congress, Montreal (quoted by Jones, H. G., 1956).Google Scholar
Engel, B. T. (1960). “Stimulus-response and individual-response specificity.” Arch. gen. Psychiat., 2, 305–313.Google Scholar
Eysenck, H. J. (1960). The Structure of Human Personality. London.Google Scholar
Eysenck, H. J. and Rachman, S. (1965). The Causes and Cure of Neurosis. London.Google Scholar
Gantt, W. H. (1964). “Autonomic conditioning.” In: The Conditioning Therapies (ed. Wolpe, J.). London.Google Scholar
Gelder, M. G., Marks, I. M., Wolff, H. H., and Clarke, M. (1967). “Densensitization and psychotherapy in the treatment of phobic states: a controlled inquiry.” Brit. J. Psychiat., 113, 53–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobson, E. (1938). Progressive Relaxation. Chicago.Google Scholar
Jones, H. G. (1956). “The application of conditioning and learning techniques to the treatment of a psychiatric patient.” J. abnorm. soc. Psychol., 32, 414–419.Google Scholar
Lacey, J. I. (1959). “Psychophysiological approaches to the evaluation of psychotherapeutic process and outcome.” In: Research in Psychotherapy (ed. Rubinstein, E. A., and Parloff, M. B.). American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
Lang, P. J., Lazovick, A. D., and Reynolds, D. J. (1965). Densensitization, suggestibility and psychotherapy.” J. abnorm. Psychol., 70, 395–402.Google Scholar
Meares, A. (1966). “Teaching the patient control of organically determined pain.” Paper presented at Fourth World Congress of Psychiatry. Madrid, 1966.Google Scholar
Moore, , Norah, (1965). “Behaviour therapy in bronchial asthma; a controlled study.” J. psychosom. Res., 9, 257–276.Google Scholar
Rachman, S. (1965). “Studies in desensitization: 1. The separate effects of relaxation and desensitization.” Behav. Res. Ther., 3, 245–251.Google Scholar
Reed, J. L. (1966). “Comments on the use of methohexitone sodium as a means of inducing relaxation.” Behav. Res. Ther., 4, 323.Google Scholar
Rubin, L. S. (1964). “Autonomic dysfunction as a concomitant of neurotic behaviour.” J. nerv. ment. Dis., 138, 558–574.Google Scholar
Rubin, L. S. (1965). “Autonomic dysfunction in neurotic behaviour.” Arch. gen. Psychiat., 12, 572–585.Google Scholar
Sherman, M., and Jost, H. (1942). “Frustration reactions of normals and neurotic persons.” J. Psychol., 13, 3–19.Google Scholar
Sherman, M., and Jost, H. (1945). “Quantification of psychophysiological measures.” Psychosom. Med., 7, 215–219.Google Scholar
Wenger, M. A. (1948). “Studies of autonomic balance in army air forces personnel.” Comp. Psychol. Monogr., 19, 1–111.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.