Neurotic Tendencies Research Articles

PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND WOMEN'S ATTITUDES TOWARDS EQUAL RIGHTS: AN MMPI STUDY

Women who answered with “True” item 101 (“I believe worn en ought to have as much sexual freedom as men”) of the MMPI differed from those responding with “False” in being younger, in having better visuospatial reasoning skills as shown by higher IQ equivalents on the Raven's Matrices, and in scoring in a less pathological direction on MMPI measures of depression, neurotic tendencies, ego strength, and social isolation. The participants were 86 alcohol and drug addicts tested on admission to addiction treatment: only 18.6% responded with “False” to the MMPI item 101. Influencing female psychotherapy clients to adopt more old fashioned attitudes in respect to equal rights in the area of sexual freedom might be a iatrogenic step.

めまい症例の心因調査

We performed psychological tests, the Cornell Medical Index (CMI), the Yatabe-Guilford Personality-Test (Y-G Test) and the Rosenzweig Picture Frustration Study (P-F Study) to evaluate psychological factors in patients with peripheral vestibular disorders.1) Some of the patients with peripheral vestibular disorders had CMI type III and IV scores, but they showed a stronger neurotic tendency than normal subjects.The neurotic tendency was more evident in males than in females. Furthermore, "anger" of psychiatric items was characteristic of the patients.2) Most of the patients with peripheral vestibular disorders showed Y-G type A and D results, and emotional stability, but some of them had Y-G type B and E results, and emotional instability.3) Personality characteristics of the P-F Study were lack of common sense and reflection, aggressiveness and dependence.

Emotional strategies and their relationship to complaints of psychosomatic and neurotic symptoms.

Examined the emotional strategies that people use and their psychological consequences. On the basis of a questionnaire answered by 270 adults, two questions were selected that would categorize people into "emotional strategy" groups; i.e., emotives and suppressed-emotives. A second sample of 329 psychotherapy group participants were classified according to their emotional strategy and also were scored on a Complaint Questionnaire (CQ) designed to measure psychological maladjustment and psychosomatic complaints. Suppressed-emotives had a significantly higher score on the CQ than the emotive and non-emotive groups. Because the CQ is similar to other questionnaires that have been shown to differentiate diagnosed "neurotics" from normals, we conclude that suppressed-emotives should be distinguished from non-emotives in that the former show neurotic tendencies, while the latter do not.

Clobazam and diazepam: The differential effects on psychomotor performance and subjective feelings in normal volunteers with high neuroticism level

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to investigate the possible differences between diazepam and clobazam with regard to their effects on psychomotor performance and subjective feeling in normal volunteers with high neuroticism levels. The study was designed as a double‐blind, crossover, single‐dose comparison of clobazam, diazepam, and placebo. Using the Maudsley Personality Inventory (MPI), 12 healthy male volunteers exhibiting high neuroticism scores were selected. Clobazam 10 mg, diazepam 5 mg, and placebo were administered orally. Measurements of psychomotor performance and subjective ratings of mood states were performed before and 1.5 and 6 hr after administration. Prior to the experiment the subjects were trained with the performance tests to minimize interference of learning effects with drug effects. Between the three treatments there were 1‐wk intervals. Both clobazam and diazepam significantly lowered choice‐reaction task performance as compared to placebo. Only clobazam lowered mirror‐drawing task performance significantly differently from placebo. Significant changes in subjectively rated mood states were also seen after clobazam only. These mood changes appeared to indicate some disinhibitory or stimulant effects. The demonstrated differences between the effects of both anxiolytics are discussed in the context of experimental design characteristics and the subjects' high level of neuroticism. Some of the observed effects may be due to an interaction of drug effects with neurotic tendencies rather than to generalized drug effects per se.

Changes in MMPI profiles after low-back surgery.

Sixty-nine patients who had completed a Minnesota Multiphasic Personality inventory (MMPI) test preoperatively and had had low-back surgery for discogenic disease were seen in follow-up one to 11 years later. Each completed an MMPI test and pain drawing postoperatively, was examined clinically and radiographically, and was rated for surgical outcome. The preoperative MMPI hypochondriasis (Hs) and hysteria (Hy) scales were only modestly related to treatment outcome, but the postoperative scales were strongly related to outcome. Patients with good surgical outcome had lower Hs and Hy scores postoperatively than preoperatively, whereas patients with poor outcomes had higher Hs and Hy scores postoperatively. The MMPI profile of these operated low-back-pain patients was found to be changeable rather than static. The numerical value of the pain drawings was highly correlated with the elevation of the Hs or Hy scales. The MMPI should be utilized to identify patients with neurotic tendencies and prompt referral for psychologic treatment. Those patients who respond favorably to psychotherapy tend to have a better surgical outcome than those with untreated psychoneuroses or those who fail to improve with treatment.

語連想における被験者タイプと，反応スタイル，ＭＭＰＩとＷＡＩＳの下位尺度との関連性について

In order to find subject types in word association and their relationship to response styles and subscales of MMPI and WAIS, two factor analyses of 32 subjects were conducted: an analysis in terms of the number of responses to each stimulus (Analysis I) and that of the coefficient of similarity between subjects for associated words to all stimuli (Analysis II). In Analysis I, five subject types were found: the active type with high arithmetical ability, the quiet type with high verbal ability, the singular type with high performance intelligence, the sensitive and rational type, and the extroverted. In Analysis II, seven subject types were found: the irresolute type with low verbal and high spatial abilities, the honest type, the type with high general intelligence, the sensitive and neurotic type, the type with low spatial ability, the quiet type with high mathematical ability, and the type with poor vocabulary. The validity of Analysis II seemed to be high because friends fell under common subject types of this analysis. In response styles, the number of responded verbs positively correlated with introversion and negatively with spatial ability, and that of nouns positively with general intelligence. These findings also suggested that the defensive attitude is related only to reaction time (Analysis I), and that the neurotic tendencies are indistinguishable from psychotic ones on the basis of reaction time because both were related to the same subject factor.

Headache in a psychiatric population.

The frequency and quality of headaches reported by 300 psychiatric patients were analyzed and compared to findings drawn from a general practice sample. Migraine and tension headaches were commonly reported and were found to be considerably more severe and frequent among psychiatric patients than among those patients attending a general practice. However, few of the psychiatric patients regarded their headaches as a major problem. Those who were headache sufferers had significantly higher scores on a psychometric assessment of neurotic tendency and were more frequently diagnosed as suffering from neurons than were those who reported few or no headaches. There was no association between headache and the diagnosis of depression, but psychometric scores on depression were significantly higher among the headache cases. The scale may have been reflecting general psychiatric distress rather than depression as such. The possibility that headaches contribute significantly to psychiatric distress, and are not merely a symptom of such distress, is considered.

Autonomy-control variation in child rearing and neurotic tendency in young adults: An exploratory study

A total of 36 young adults participated in an exploratory investigation examining the relationship between autonomy-control variation in child rearing and neurotic tendency. Results disclosed that subjects of the autonomy group displayed lower neurotic tendencies than subjects of the intermediate group.

Changes in personality scores among couples subsequent to sex therapy

Changes in personality scores and self-perception of 92 couples through sex therapy are reported. The sample included 52 couples with female symptoms (orgasmic dysfunction and vaginismus) and 40 couples with male symptoms (erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation), who all completed therapy. One-year follow-up showed significant changes indicating a general increase of emotional stability and a reduction of neurotic tendencies in both partners.

Psychological aspects of chronic pelvic pain in women

Three psychometric tests: (1) A Dutch adjustment of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), (2) The Amsterdam Biographical Questionnaire (ABV-V), and (3) The Interpersonal Relations Questionnaire (VIR) were administered to three groups of patients: (1) fifteen patients with chronic pelvic pain without clear organic cause; (2) twenty-two patients with chronic pelvic pain due to endometriosis; and (3) twenty-three pain-free patients. The analysis of the results showed that Groups 1 and 2 did not differ significantly on the MMPI and a global view of the two pain groups indicates a neurotic behavior, but both Groups 1 and 2 differed from Group 3 (the control group) and from Group 4 (the standardization group of the adapted MMPI). On the ABV-V the pain groups' answers were similar to those of neurotic patients, while the patient control group showed a certain neurotic tendency. The results on the VIR lead to the conclusion that Group 2 has the same profile as Group 1, although they did not deviate as strongly from the control group. As it is improbable that chronic pain for which an organic cause has been found occurs predominantly in patients with neurotic personality structure or neurotic reactions, we must admit that chronic pain with an organic origin can lead to neurotic reactions. These data confirm earlier studies on neurologic patients and on patients with chronic low back pain. Because even the patient control group showed a certain neurotic tendency, it follows that every contact with the medical world results in some degree of uncertainty and that the selection of control groups, when psychosomatic problems are being studied, is especially difficult.

The electroencephalogram (EEG) as a research tool in human behavior genetics: Psychological examinations in healthy males with various inherited EEG variants

The results of psychological examinations on 298 adult male probands with various inherited EEG variants are described. They may be summarized as follows: 1) The low-voltage (N) group scored high in intelligence tests, especially in spatial orientation. Personality scores revealed this group as 'normal', extravert, group-dependent, and not very energetic. 2) The borderline low-voltage (NG) group showed slight weakness in abstract thinking, short-time memory, and motor skills and a relatively strong tendency to have 'neurotic' complaints. Reaction time and motor skills were poor. 3) The occipital fast alpha-variants (BO) group performed very well in tests of abstract thinking and motor skills. 4) The monotonous alpha (R) group showed average performance in most intelligence scores but above-average in short-time memory and in precision under stress conditions. Personality scores indicated high spontaneous activity and toughmindedness. 5) The BG (fronto-precentral beta-group) category showed very low MMPI scores, indicating little neurotic tendency. Intelligence could be above average. 6) The diffuse beta (BD) group scored low in intelligence tests, especially in spatial orientation, and had a high error rate in tests measuring concentration and precision. Most differences were relatively small; the whole range of test scores could be found in all EEG groups.

Multidimensionality of locus of control and the Eysenck Personality Inventory.

Kleiber, Veldman, and Menaker (1973) have repotted the isolation of three factors from Rotter's locus of control scale: Disbelief in Luck or Chance (Factor I ) , System Modifiability (11). and Individual Responsibility for Failure (111). Since previous studies have reported an inverse relationship between an internal locus of control orientation and neurotic symptoms (Lichtenstein & Kentzer, 1967; Platt, Pometanz, & Eisenman, 1971) and since Rotter (1966) has suEgested that internal subjects are, in general, better adjusted than are external ones, the present study determined whether these individual locus of control factors are differentially implicated with neurotic symptoms. Sixty-eight college students were given the Eysenck Personality Inventory (Form A) and the Rotter Locus of Control scale as separate questionnaires. The locus of control scale items were separated from their original pairings and were arranged randomly on the question sheet. These items were responded to in a format, unlike the six-point Likert format used by Kleiber, ec al. (1973). Eysenck's Extraversion scale correlated -.OW with Factor I, .050 with Factor 11. and .093 with Factor 111; none of these correlations are significant. Eysenck's Neuroticism scale correlated -.222 with Factor I, -.318 with Faaor I1 ( p < .02), and -.I15 with Factor 111. These results suggest that the previously reported relationship between locus of control and neurotic tendencies may be due to neurotics having greater likelihood of discounting notions that they have personal control over political, social, and economic systems and hence are more likely to regard themselves as pawns in the hands of institutions. In this study, the following correlations were observed between individual factors of locus of control (as reported by Kleiber, et al., 1973) : 1-11 ( r = .381, p < .01), 1-111 ( r = .259, p < .05), and 11-111 ( r = .239, n.s.). These results suggest that there is some overlap among these factors when a true-false rather than the Likert format of answering is used.

シンポジウムII: ロールシャッハ法による児童研究

This symposium was originally designed by the President of the Congress, Prof. Shigeo Takahashi, who himself is one of the most prominent Rorschach researchers in Japan.Three speakers were chosen in order to show their different approaches to the children's Rorschach technique. Michiko Iida presented her research on school phobia with the Rorschach method. According to their Rorschach responses, school phobia cases were divided into five groups. Children who showed rather rich results even though they were marked with neurotic tendencies were good at psychotherapeutic prognosis. Whereas those who showed constricted results were bad in their prognosis. Nobuko Ochi presented her longitudinal study of Rorschach with children. She gave the test to 16 subjects once a year for 11 years continuously. She found that, among other things, there was a dramatical change in the Rorschach responses when the children were in fifth grade of primary school, and the children is strong concern to “face” response when they were in middle school.Makiko Ozawa was supposed to present her research on the developmental change in the child Rorschach responses from a theoretical point of view. However, she could not attend to the symposium because of sudden illnessKenzo Sorai and Fujio Tanaka, as the discussants, greatly helped the discussion on methodological, clinical and developmental points of view.

The Psychology of the Self-Actualizing Personality in the Work of Abraham Maslow

The second and third quarters of this century saw the appearance of a number of different concepts of personality in foreign psychology. Most of these were spawned by pathopsychology as a result of attempts to understand the personality of the neurotic and as a practical offshoot of psychotherapy. Although these theories were generalizations based on studies of the psychopathological personality, they began to be propagated by their creators as general theories of personality. Material gathered from the investigation of mental patients was used as the foundation for what are now standard personality tests — the Rorschach test and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) — used chiefly to discover neurotic tendencies in the individual. An extremely exaggerated evaluation of the significance of the pathopsychological method has been the hallmark of personality theory in foreign psychology. Yet the neurotic and, even more so, the pathological personality are qualitatively, not quantitatively, distinct from the p...

Specificite psychosomatique et affections cardiaques coronariennes: Essai de verification de la theorie de dunbar au moyen du MMPI

Resume Several precise hypotheses have been deduced from Dunbar's theories (1943). They concern expected differences between MMPI profiles of coronary heart disease Ss, hypertensive heart disease Ss and fracture Ss. Thirty coronary Ss and 30 hypertensive Ss, matches for age and social economical status, were compared: the only significant difference shows heavier introversive tendencies (IR) among hypertensive Ss. The data confirm the hypothesis. A similar comparison between 30 coronary Ss and 30 fracture Ss verifies the following hypotheses. Fracture Ss display more masculine (Mf) and extratensive (IR ratio) tendencies while coronary Ss score higher on social introversion (Si), neuroticism (Ne, Am) and compulsion (Pt). The expected elevation for psychopathy (Pd) and hypomania (Ma) among fracture Ss was not statistically significant. However, an analysis of the group profiles reveals that the coronary profile is dominated by the Ma scale (except for the neurotic triad showing the psychosomatic V in both groups). These data are consistent with Dunbar's theories: compulsional neurotic tendencies should predominate among coronary patients and hypomaniac tendencies should among fracture patients. Among the 300 profiles reported in the “Handbook of MMPI Group Profiles” (Lanyon, 1967) seven were very close to the coronary profile obtained from the present sample. All of them described psychosomatic groups.

The evidence for genetic components in the neuroses. A review.

Evidence from studies of families and twins presented by several investigators suggests that some neuroses, such as anxiety neurosis, have an important genetic component whereas others, such as hysterical neurosis, may have none or a relatively unimportant genetic component. The heritability takes the form of a genetic predisposition that culminates in clinical symptoms only when the person is subjected to the proper set of environmental stresses. Psychological test studies show significant heritabilities of various personality traits, including neurotic tendencies, and animal studies show that rats can be selected for emotionality or nonemotionality. Evidence suggests the hypothesis that the genetic basis is complex polygenic system in which some genetic loci are additive while other loci function via various genetic mechanisms.

Individual Differences in Annoyance by Noise

This paper discusses correlations found in a number of investigations of noise annoyance, with special reference to the question whether those who are most annoyed show neurotic tendencies. In the past, this last association has been suggested because neurotic individuals give more affirmative answers when asked under quiet conditions how much they are annoyed by a variety of circumstances, including noise. Such a questionnaire of annoyances was therefore correlated with(1) the average rating of a number of real aircraft(2) the increase in rated annoyance as a function of physical intensity for a variety of sounds(3) various other measures of personality.While it was confirmed that a questionnaire of this kind tends to be answered more affirmatively by people with neurotic tendencies, it did not predict satisfactorily the amount of annoyance produced by real aircraft or other sounds. Thus it may indeed be that people who complain when noise levels are relatively low have neurotic tendencies: but it does n...

Relationship between EEG, personality and vigilance

The dependence of alpha frequencies upon vigilance performance and upon the personality variables of rigidity, extraversion and neurotic tendency was investigated. The EEG was recorded from bipolar derivations F3-C3, P3-O1 and T5-O1 during various resting and task periods. The independent evaluation of records from the latter two positions and the correlation of these with other data gave the following results: 1. 1. Good vigilance correlates positively with low (8–9 c/sec) and negatively with high (12–13 c/sec) alpha frequencies during both task performance and the subsequent resting stage. 2. 2. Good vigilance correlates negatively with the alpha index in the subsequent resting period. 3. 3. Rigidity correlates positively with the error score in the vigilance task and negatively with the percentage of correct responses. 4. 4. Rigidity correlates negatively with low 5. (8–9 c/sec) and positively with high (12–13 c/sec) alpha frequencies. 6. 5. Neurotic tendency correlates positively with intermediate (19-11 c/sec) alpha frequencies during the vigilance task and with the alpha index during and after this task. 7. 6. Neurotic tendency, however, correlates negatively with the intermediate (10–11 c/sec) alpha frequencies during the resting period prior to the task. 8. 7. Poor performance (error score) on the arithmetic tasks correlates negatively with the alpha index during the resting stages. 9. 8. Poor performance (error score) on the arithmetic tasks correlates positively with the low (8–9 c/sec) alpha frequencies during the vigilance task. The results suggest that good vigilance is associated with the lower alpha frequencies and poor vigilance with the higher ones. Rigidity appears to be associated with high alpha frequencies and poor performance. When neurotic tendency is high, performance of the vigilance task causes an increase rather than a decrease in 10–11 c/sec waves.

A clinical study of “coital anxiety” in male potency disorders

Many authorities of widely different psychiatric schools from the psychoanalytic, to the behavioral, cite anxiety as being the most important cause of male potency disorders, Fenichel [1], Stekel [2], Vanderveldt and Odenwald [3], Gutheil [4], Allen [5], Stanfford-Clark [6], Rachman [7], Wolpe [8], respectively, to mention only a representative sample. In a previous study, however, the author was unable to demonstrate any statistical association between “anxiety” (or “neurosis”) as measured by (a) a standard psychological test (The N.S.Q.—Scheier and Cattell [9]) or (b) as judged clinically and “psychogenic” potency disorders (Cooper [10]). The author concluded that “neurosis” or neurotic tendencies may be associated only rarely with “psychogenic potency disorders”. Another possible interpretation of this seeming paradox might be that standard psychological tests, although helpful in confirming and quantifying clinical neuroses, in general, may be inappropriate and even misleading in the case of psychogenic potency disorders. According as a working tool, the author set out to develop and define a psychosomatic concept of “coital anxiety” and to examine its clinical relevance and usefulness, especially as a prognastic pointer in male potency disorders.

要求水準と再行動作

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between goal setting behavior observed in level of aspiration situations and tendency to resume interrupted tasks. Subjects:The subjects were 32 boys selected from a class of first year in a middle school. Procedure:Subjects were observed in two different situations, A and B. In situation A, each subject was led into an experimental room and instructed to answer 20 questions of mathematics, and he was asked to estimate how fast he expect to finish his task. When he finished his task he was informed his time. And the next trial began. When 14 successive trials were given, the subject was asked to stop and to answer to a personality inventory. Then the experimenter went out of the room and observed through a one mirror.In situation B procedures were the same except that the experimenter remained in the room throughout the whole experiment. Results:According to Sears and Roder, 6 groups of typical behavioral pattern were distinguished in goal setting situations. Subjects who showed unstable or low positive or rigid pattern had no tendency to resume the incomplete tasks.Those who raised their aspiration level stepwise resumed the interrupted tasks. This finding may be explained by our hypothesis those who have high motivation but are frustrated by their failure tend to set unrealistic goal and to resume their tasks, because the tension is not released.In the present study relationships between the hight of goal-level setting and certain personality variables were analysed. Subjects were divided into 4 groups according to their G. D. score. Positive G. D. score groups were extravert and negative score groups were introvert.(p<05 by x2-test)Mean intelligence score of +L group was the highest, and -L group was the second, and -H group was the third.(p<.05 by F test)In neurotic tendency, there were significant differences among 4 groups.(p<.05 by F test)The order of neurotic tendency among groups were the same as in intelligence score.