An illness is a failure to solve a mental or psychological problem in the correct manner... The energy that would be used to solve the problem instead is spent maintaining the illness. It is therefore necessary that an attempt be made as soon as possible to solve the problem, which of course must first be discovered by the ego, which has avoided it.

Session 159, Page 68 - The Early Sessions: Sessions 1-42, 1997 - The Early Sessions: Book 4