Peptic Ulcer, Gastritis and Psychoneurosis

This paper deals with the diagnosis of the condition of Navy and Marine patients who present symptoms suggesting chronic disease of the upper part of the gastrointestinal tract. That such a group of patients constitutes a problem among military personnel has been emphasized repeatedly in current medical writings. Gill,¹after a thousand gastroscopic examinations carried out in an effort to "determine the value and indications for gastroscopy in the assessment of the service dyspeptic," has confirmed its value by uncovering 102 cases of gastritis in 308 cases in which the roentgenologic observations had been negative. It is surprising that the condition of none of the 806 patients studied was diagnosed as psychoneurotic. Flood²made psychiatric studies of 47 of 75 service patients suffering from proved peptic ulcer. Twenty-five presented symptoms of an anxiety state or an anxiety neurosis. No mention was made of patients presenting symptoms in the