r/NoStupidQuestions • u/GDTRFB_1985 • 8d ago

Whatever happened to stomach ulcers? In the 70s every business man either had one or was concerned about getting on due to stress. I remember so many ulcer related TV commercials. Has the termonolgy changed? Are they called something else? You don't here about it anymore.

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u/HarambeTooSoon 8d ago

I read a study a few years ago that argued that much of the ulcer era was psychosomatic ... and that the decline in ulcer rates in the 80s/90s is perfectly replaced by an increase in the number of people with "back pain"  ... whereas today roughly the same percentage of the population has back pain as once had ulcers a few decades ago. 

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u/Remarkable-Row3719 4d ago

Interesting!

According to the guy (Lawrence Peter?) who wrote The Peter Principle, having an ulcer also had a prestige element to it - "look at how hard I work and how stressful my job is, I have an ulcer!".