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A PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PSYCHIATRIC INVESTIGATION OF THE ADJUSTMENT OF FEMALE SCOLIOSIS PATIENTS
Author(s) -
Bengtsson G.,
Fällström K.,
Jansson B.,
Nachemson A.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0447.1974.tb07656.x
Subject(s) - rorschach test , psychology , personality , psychological testing , projective test , psychosocial , neuroticism , test (biology) , clinical psychology , psychiatry , social psychology , paleontology , psychoanalysis , biology
Twenty‐six women with an idiopathic scoliosis of a high degree (average curvature 105°) underwent a psychiatric investigation and a psychological evaluation made from both socio‐psychological and personality‐psychological aspects, the latter being covered by a projective test (Rorschach) and a gestalt‐psychological test (Bénder). A synthesis was made of the different evaluations characterising the patients' experience of disability according to a 4‐grade scale. This variable was then related to important somatic variables. The patients' superficial psychosocial adjustment was obviously very good. Only one woman had an invalid pension and the psychiatric contact of the material only moderately exceeded the figure for other women with the same age‐distribution. However, the personality‐psychological examination gave results indicating that adjustment was not always so good. Two case histories illustrate the discrepancy between a good superficial adjustment and a high‐grade psychological handicap. The patients' lives were marked to a high degree by their deformity. The group was characterised by hypersensitivity and insecurity, with a tendency to dysphoric mood; the level of energy was high. Not unexpectedly, the psychological adjustment deteriorated with an increasing degree of deformity. Poor vital capacity also impaired adjustment.