Stephanos has developed a psychoanalytic-psychosomatic treatment concept for patients suffering from somatic illnesses and severe psychological distress. The author makes his decades of research and experience from an inpatient treatment setting available for outpatient therapy in this book. Stephanos' aim is to foster cooperation and integration between so-called organ medicine practitioners and psychotherapists. Only through the intertwining of both approaches can the unconscious suffering of the patient find a voice, allowing for a holistic therapy to succeed. In this context, it is the responsibility of the psychosomatic-psychoanalytic therapist to place essential early childhood traumas and chronic conflicts into a life-history context. Only then can changes occur.