SEQUELAE OF SEVERE DISEASE OF THE ABDOMINAL VISCERA: WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO PSYCHONEUROSIS AND IMBALANCE OF THE AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM

It is my purpose in this paper to inquire into a group of cases of psychoneurosis whose origins date to an attack of irritative disease of the abdominal viscera of such severity as to have been associated with the probability of imminent death, or which are associated with diseases of the abdominal viscera characterized by a chronic course of increasing severity. In this group are cases of peptic ulcer with massive hemorrhage, ruptured peptic ulcer, surgical intervention in peptic ulcer with extremely stormy postoperative course, severe typhoid with delirium, carcinoma of the gastrointestinal tract, cases of poisoning by mouth with associated gastroenteritis and similar diseases having in common the factors of irritation and of extreme gravity of outcome in some part of their course. These conditions are met in the course of neuropsychiatric practice and are variously diagnosed as psychoneurosis, neurasthenia, autonomic imbalance or neurocirculatory asthenia. In the more severe