The auspicious moment in somatic medicine.

Abstract

1. The occurrence of auspicious moments in somatic illness has its somatic basis in the changes of brain function incident to a state of psychological crisis. 2. The use of the crisis in facilitating auspicious moments is helped by the therapist who is aware of the biographical meaning of the somatic disease. The therapeutic encounter between patient and therapist creates a new psychobiological situation. “The mind is a function of two or more brains, and not the property of one.”12 (David Rioch) 3. Clinical examples illustrate the practical relevance of the auspicious moment in changing the disease process. 4. The Rorschach method is a useful device for understanding the general dynamics of specific somatic diseases, and for clarifying their personal form in the individual patient. Sometimes the imagery can be used directly and effectively to point out the auspicious moment. 5. The wide positive response to Dr. Kelman's13 first article onkairos in 1960 proved that many psychiatrists had become aware that psychotherapy modeled on the laws of inanimate nature is too self-limiting. The sense of crisis in psychiatry facilitates the rediscovery of the old medical concept. I hope that the preceding theoretical considerations and practical examples have shown that somatic medicine too has a psychobiological dimension which is therapeutically significant. We may hope that in a not too distant future, somatic medicine will restorekairos to its old place of honor in the Hippocratic concept of the healing art.