PSYCHOTHERAPY IN RHEUMATOID-ARTHRITIS - A PARALLEL-PROCESS STUDY OF PSYCHIC STATE AND COURSE OF RHEUMATIC DISEASE

In this study, well-known psychosomatic (psychoneuroimmunological) con nections have been used for therapeutic purposes. Fifteen patients wit h rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were treated with analytical insight thera py for 60-90 min weekly during 10 months to 4.5 years (median 3.3 year s). Six patients showed great and largely continuous improvement, both psychic and physical, throughout the period of psychotherapy and ofte n for a long time thereafter. In another five cases, improvements in p sychic state and the joint disease took place over a period of 1-2 yea rs. Later, when the emotional channels to childhood traumata were open ed, these five patients relapsed and the course of their disease becam e more variable. In four cases, the connections between psychic state and the course of the joint disease were more varied throughout the pe riod of psychotherapy. In the studied group the correlation between ps ychic state and course of rheumatic disease was highly significant. Th e probability of the outcome of the study being due to chance alone is considered very small, especially taking into account the fact that R A is a chronic progressive disease.