Autonomic Therapy in the Psychoneuroses
The purpose of this paper is to indicate that many psychoneuroses are essentially upsets of the autonomic nervous system, that in many cases we are not dealing with an emotional upset, but with the secondary autonomic disorder caused by that upset, and that this autonomic disorder is to the patient the essential part of his or her illness and the suffering from which he or she desires relief. Accordingly in such cases therapy should be pharmacological by drugs specific for the type of upset present. Such therapy gives excellent results, especially in early cases. Toxic or psychological factors which are still operating must, of course, be dealt with by appropriate measures, but even in such cases pharmacological therapy proves a useful auxiliary. If, after elimination of those causal factors the resultant autonomic upset persists. pharmacological therapy is essential to bring about a complete cure. This has been proved to us by observation of the failure of persistence in psychotherapy in such cases with subsequent relief by pharmacological therapy.