Medicine: Who’s Psychosomatic?

Physicians agree that about half their patients’ symptoms are of emotional rather than physical origin, but how are they to tell which is which? The Cleveland Clinic’s Dr. Leonard L. Lovshin has drawn up a list of signs that may point to illness of psychosomatic origin. Samples: ¶ Exaggeration—e.g., the patient whose headache is “terrible, all over my head,” and who has had it “all my life.” ¶ Prepared lists of ailments. One patient gave Dr. Lovshin an 88-page case history.

¶ Bleached hair on a brunette (except a showgirl or model), or plucked-out eyebrows replaced by pencil.

¶ Tinted or dark glasses indoors—”a dead giveaway!” ¶ Fluttering of the eyelids—”only a hysterical woman can do it.” Not all these clinical impressions, says Dr. Lovshin, by themselves prove the presence of psychosomatic illness, but they are important clues. Some of the signs he considers particularly clear-cut e.g., the wearers of dark or tinted glasses “are high-strung — everything bothers them, even light when it is not bright.” Also suspect is the emotional plight of the woman who calls her husband “the most wonderful man in the world.” Said Dr.

Lovshin: “I’ve instructed my wife, if she ever goes to a doctor, to give nothing but my name, rank and serial number.”