Helen Flanders Dunbar (1902-1959) and a holistic approach to psychosomatic problems. II. The role of Dunbar's nonmedical background.

Despite Dunbar's central role in the American psychosomatic movement, few successors seem to have grasped the nature and context of her work. This is partially because, as conveyed in Part I of his article, most histories of psychosomatic theory and research overlook the holistic, organismic point of view shared by Dunbar and other psychoanalysts of the psychobilogic persuasion. However, to grasp the full meaning of Dunbar's work one must look to her nonmedical background in Dantean philosphy and in religious healing.