At the present time there are almost as many opinions about the etiology of the psychoneuroses as there are men who think about them. One end of the scale is sounded by those who believe that the neuroses spring entirely from mental repressions and conflicts. The antithesis of this is the absolutely organic theory which holds that psychoneurotic states are produced solely by physical disease. For some time it has been apparent that there is a tendency to depart from these two radical conceptions. Experimental studies and clinical observations show, beyond a reasonable doubt, intimate association between emotions and mental life in general and the physical state. We may still be honestly uncertain as to where to place the starting point of the neurosis: in the body, or in what is popularly known as the mind.
During the two year period, 1918-1920, 260 patients presenting the symptomatic picture of hysteria