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The author of this article, in light of her clinical practice as agastro-enterologist and from a psychosomatic standpoint, positsthe argument that abdominal pains, whether they be functional ororganic, are a symptom frequently encountered among women.The hypothesis of a psychical factor in their etiopathogeny is alsodiscussed. According to the author, this phenomenon may beanalysed in the same way as psychical pathologies. When pain isa main cause for someone choosing to embark on psychotherapy,improvement of the condition is obtained ‘in addition’, if repression and denial do not stand in the way of its acceptance.