PSYCHOSOMATICS 



[729 



regard to threats to self-preservation or the preserva- 

 tion of the species, and to the eradication of these 

 threats, are characteristically 'unpleasant' in nature. 

 In this category are fear, anger and sorrow. On the 

 other side are pleasurable emotions that are informa- 

 tive of the removal of threats, the active gratification 

 of needs, and the temporary achievement of a state of 

 internal or external homeostasis or both. The emotions 

 of joy and love come conspicuously to mind. 



Although, as noted, emotions give the sense of 

 pervading the body, specific emotions are variously 

 felt by different individuals to be more vivid in one 

 or another part of the body. Thus one person may 

 sense the emotion of fear particularly in the region of 

 his stomach; another in his body musculature. Like 

 other forms of sensation, emotional feelings vary in 

 intensity and duration. 



A distinction is commonly made between emotions 

 and moods. It can be argued, however, that moods 

 are but various forms of emotion extended in time. A 

 distinction is also frequently made between emotion 

 and anxiety, an unpleasant feeling that accompanies 

 alerting for, and anticipation of, future events. Here 

 again the distinction may be looked upon as being 

 largely arbitrary. 



assessing emotion in animals. Inferences about the 

 emotional states of animals must of course be based 

 purely on nonverbal communication. Through the 

 psychological process of identification man recognizes 

 a number of stereotypes of behavior in animals thai 

 he associates with particular emotional states in him- 

 self. Lashley (31) points out that fundamental patterns 

 of emotional reaction seem to have undergone little 

 change in mammalian evolution. Fortunately from 

 the standpoint of psychological study this has made it 

 possible to establish certain well-recognized forms of 

 emotional behavior in animals and man, particularly 

 those pertaining to anger and fear and to various 

 forms of gratification. 



As will be developed, there are grounds for believing 

 that successively higher orders of information are re- 

 spectively dependent on neural mechanisms of in- 

 creasing complexity, all of which, in the intact organ- 

 ism, are mutually related to one another. Hence, it 

 will be indicated that although emotion represents a 

 lower order of information than conceptualized 

 thought, there exists the possibility for reciprocity of 

 action of the underlying mechanisms. Thus emotion 

 may give rise to thought, and thought to emotion. It 

 is also to be pointed out that such a dynamically re- 



lated hierarchy of systems would allow for upward 

 and downward gradations of awareness that would 

 depend at any one moment on the summed amounts 

 of various forms of information. 



The Problem for Xeurophysiology 



Although it is inherent in what has been said that 

 the clinical specialties are the ones that hold the 

 advantage in getting at the informational aspects of 

 the psyche, there are great limitations clinically in 

 what can be done from the standpoint of investigating 

 the underlying mechanisms. It is in this latter area 

 that neurophysiology, with its access to animal experi- 

 mentation, is peculiarly suited to making a contribu- 

 tion to psychosomatic v 



In order to indicate the nature of the problems in 

 which the aid of neurophysiology is primarily required, 

 it will be necessary again to appeal to introspective 

 material. On the basis of such material it is recog- 

 nized that emotion is the only form of psychological 

 information which, short of physical exercise, i- 

 associated with extensive internal changes of the 

 body. In view of this, it is .1 matter of first importance 

 to ascertain whether or not one can localize mecha- 

 nisms in the central nervous system that are par- 

 ticularly concerned with the experience of emotion 

 .mcl its elaboration into behavior. If such mechanisms 

 ran be identified and localized, a next step istoinquire 

 how they differ anatomically and functionally from 

 other kinds of neural apparatus. Another major prob- 

 lem in line with this approach is to discover whether 

 or not emotion and its underlying central and pe- 

 ripheral mechanisms can initiate internal changes that 

 are either sufficiently intense or enduring to result in 

 lesions. Here again, in ease of a positive outcome, 

 there would follow the need of analyzing the nature 

 of the mechanisms. Questions related to the formation 

 of lesions, their location and chronicity, are among 

 the most challenging ones with which psychosomatic 

 medicine has to deal. The rest of this chapter will take 

 up in order the problems that have been presented 

 and will consider what investigations have thus far 

 contributed or promise to contribute to their solution. 



CENTRAL MECHANISMS OF EMOTION 



Brain Stem and Spinal Cord 



Comparative neurology indicates that the neural 

 chassis contained within the spinal cord and the brain 



