Eleven of 19 monkeys used in chronic psychological-conditioning experiments developed gastrointestinal disease. Although the program for each animal was different, for the most part experiments were directed toward a study of emotional behavior. Among the lesions found were gastric hemorrhage and erosion, duodenal ulceration, enteric intussusception, and chronic colitis. In a controlled study of a single behavioral procedure (avoidance behavior), 2 experimental monkeys developed duodenal ulceration while the 2 control animals showed no abnormality. The possible etiologic factors responsible for this occurrence and their significance from the standpoint of investigating the pathogenesis of “psychosomatic” disease have been discussed.
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Porter et al. (1958) studied this question.