Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T15:03:18.625Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Personality Change in the Treatment of Chronic Neurosis in a Therapeutic Community

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

D. V. Martin  and
T. M. Caine
D. V. Martin
Affiliation:
Claybury Hospital
T. M. Caine
Affiliation:
Claybury Hospital
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In recent investigations of the neuroses by Foulds and Caine (1958, 1959), certain psychological tests were found to relate to diagnostic category (dysthymia or hysteria) whereas others were related to personality type (hysteroid or obsessoid) as rated by psychiatrists. The diagnostic measures included combinations of the Hypochondriasis (Hs), Depression (D) and Psychasthenia (Pt) scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). The measures related to personality type included psychomotor and intellectual speed measures and two specially constructed extra-punitive and intropunitive attitude scales drawn from the MMPI (Foulds, Caine and Creasey, 1960). This distinction between symptoms and traits has been discussed in some detail by Foulds (1961) and no attempt will be made to review his arguments here. In a subsequent investigation, however (Foulds, 1959), he found that following treatment of approximately one month's duration symptom measures changed in psychoneurotic women relatively more than did the personality measures. It was suggested that therapists who were dissatisfied with the mere alleviation of symptoms might try to change some of the personality scores. The implication is that changes in test measures related to symptomatology are more readily accomplished than are changes in tests related to personality traits. This differential suggests a possible parameter for comparative studies of different treatment methods. Therapies directed at personality reorganization and attitude change should produce more profound and enduring changes in the personality measures than should those therapies directed at symptom relief only. These changes should be more systematic and predictable than should those to be expected simply from the passage of time.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 109 , Issue 459 , March 1963 , pp. 267 - 272
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1963 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Eysenck, H. J. (1960). Handbook of Abnormal Psychology. Pitman Med. Pub. Co. Ltd., 697–725.Google Scholar
Foulds, G. A., and Caine, T. M. (1958). J. Ment. Sci., 104, 436.Google Scholar
Foulds, G. A. and Caine, T. M. (1959). Ibid., 105, 438.Google Scholar
Foulds, G. A. Caine, T. M., and Creasey, M. A. (1960). Ibid., 106, 443.Google Scholar
Foulds, G. A. (1959). Ibid., 105, 440.Google Scholar
Foulds, G. A. (1961). Brit. J. Med. Psychol., 34, 1–8.Google Scholar
Foulkes, S. H., and Anthony, E. J. (1957). Group Psychotherapy. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books Ltd., p. 198.Google Scholar
Martin, D. V. (1962). Adventure in Psychiatry: Social Change in a Mental Hospital. Oxford: Cassirer.Google Scholar
Mead, G. H. (1952). “Language and the development of the self”, in Swanson, G. E., Newcomb, T. M. and Hartley, E. L. (eds.) Readings in Social Psychology. New York: Holt, pp. 44–54.Google Scholar
Mooney, R. L., and Gordon, L. V. (1950). Manual to accompany the Mooney Problem Check Lists. New York: The Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Rokeach, M. (1960). The Open and Closed Mind. New York: Basic Books Ltd.Google Scholar
Snedecor, G. W. (1946). Statistical Methods. Ames, Iowa: The Collegiate Press, Inc., p. 240.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.