In this paper, the disturbance of interpersonal relationship and eating behavior of the neurotic patients with somatic complaints, so called somatizing patients, were discussed.It was said that they have a tendency not to express their emotions and psychosocial background. Then, they may be unable to have intimate relationship with others because of their personality characteristics and this is seen particularly in doctor-patient relationship.It might be also true that one's nehavior toward other persons reflects the characteristics of their interpersonal relationship in various situations. Especially, this fact is remarkable in eating situations, where interpersonal distance becomes close.Therefore, I tried to compare the eatin behavior at home, the attitude of communication with family, and awareness of emotional state, between somatizing patients with neuroticism and normal controls. The results were as follows.1) Irregularity of eating behavior was more frequently seen in neurotic oatients than in the control group.2) In the patient group, the attitude of communication with their family was negative, compared with control group.3) Patients with neuroticism tend to recognize themselves as calm, not-tense and not-irritable persons, as compared with normal controls.Moreover, a discussion was included as to one case, who was suffering from both irritable bowel syndrome and social phobia, and who felt very tense at eating situation such as together with his friends, in terms of his disturbance of interpersonal relationship and eating behavior.
