Mind-body-environment: George Engel's psychoanalytic approach to psychosomatic medicine.

OBJECTIVE

To provide an overview of George Engel's psychoanalytic approach and contributions to psychosomatic medicine.

METHODS

Engel's publications were reviewed to identify his use of psychoanalytic methods and concepts to explore and conceptualize the interrelationships among mind, body and environment in health and disease.

RESULTS

Engel's contributions include an interviewing method for accessing psychological data; insights into the psychobiology of anaclitic depression; a psychosomatic theory concerning the influence of relationships and loss on susceptibility to disease; an elucidation of psychodynamic factors in the pathogenesis of chronic pain; and a longitudinal self-analytic study of anniversary reactions.

CONCLUSIONS

Engel successfully bridged the disciplines of medicine, psychiatry, and psychoanalysis, and broadened the scope of psychosomatic research and clinical practice by identifying the role of interpersonal relationships throughout life in regulating mental and bodily processes.