DISEASE AS A VALUE STATEMENT

In an attempt to examine the unconscious roots of values, this paper explores Gotthard Booth's psychosomatic theory that disease is a message of the whole person. It outlines his work in describing distinctive personality types who characteristically become ill through the disease of the organ system that is dominant for their life-style. The disease represents accommodation in the person's object relatedness and as such reflects the operation of unconscious values and indicates possibilities for therapy. Because the cultural environment helps condition the dominant organ response, Booth's work also has relevance for developing a sociology of value and suggests a prophylactic role for religion.