Franz Alexander, Psychosomatic Medicine. Principles and application»

The American psychoanalyst Franz Alexander (1891–1964) is known worldwide as one of the founders of psychosomatics, a direction in medicine that studies the role of mental factors in the occurrence of diseases. Having initially received a medical education, Alexander became interested in psychoanalysis, became one of the followers of Freud, participated in the creation of the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute and led it for almost a quarter of a century. Based on the idea of ​​the relationship and mutual influence of the body and the psyche, Alexander developed a new approach to understanding and treating diseases, which is based on the equal and coordinated use of knowledge about human anatomy and physiology, the achievements of pharmacology and surgery, on the one hand, and psychological concepts, on the other. . Alexander’s main achievement is the notion of a specific relationship between a type of bodily illness and a type of unconscious emotional conflict. For example, chronic hypertension is a consequence of suppressed anger, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract are the result of frustration of dependent inclinations, hyperthyroidism, as a rule, is provoked by psychic trauma and acute emotional conflict. Arguing his hypotheses from the positions of psychoanalysis, the author cites numerous observations of doctors, statistical data and research results, vivid clinical cases. And although modern medical science does not consider these hypotheses fully proven, research into the underlying mechanisms of disease, initiated by Alexander, continues.

Institute for Humanitarian Research, 320 p.

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