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JAMA. 1968;206(12):2734.

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The general excitement generated by psychosomatic medicine a decade or two ago has largely subsided. One of the reasons for this decline is the lack of conspicuous success in treating somatic disorders by psychotherapy. Another, possibly more important, reason is the difficulty of measuring and statistically analyzing psychophysiological interactions. The mind and the brain, where most of these vital transactions take place, are generally beyond the reach of standard measuring techniques. The physiological and biochemical manifestations of autonomic system response to cortical-hypothalamic mediated stimuli are measurable, but do not correlate well with the identity, form, or intensity of the original stimulus. Nor are these peripheral manifestations of autonomic arousal—catecholamine secretion, free fatty acid changes, skin electrical conductance, heart rate and blood pressure responses—interconcordant in the time of their occurrence or in the degree of change. Comparing heart rate and electrical skin conductance in parachute jumpers under stress, Taylor and Epstein . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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