Abstract
This study was designed to investigate the causetive factors in the occurrence healing process and recurrence of peptic ulcers, from viewpoint of psychosomatic medicine.The method involved the use of two questionnaires and the interview of patients. In all, 314 gastric and duodenal ulcer cases were analysed.Althouth the frequency of psychologically abnormal persons in our study was fewer than that of other studies, it may be due to the fact that many outpatients and group-examined cases were included in our study.In peptic ulcer patients, psychologically abnormal persons increased as the increment of subjective complaints of the digestive organ. At the time of the occurrence of this disease, external stress acted as a causative factor in 88% of these case. The most frequent kind of stress was the increase of heavy responsibility, next was general anxiety and troubles in personal relations.It was also suggested that the frequency of psychologically abnormal persons was related to the location of the ulcer, as the gastric acid secretion varied by that of ulcer.That a psychologically abnormal personality influenced the healing process of the ulcer, we learned from the result of our study of the difference between the early healed group and the refractory group. But, the recurrence of the ulcer seemed to be influenced more by external stress than that of an abnormal personality.It was also seen that the organ inferiority of the stomach acted as one of the causal factors in the onset of this disease.
