Personality and Coping with Psychiatric Symptoms

Abstract

Summary: An attempt was made to extend and cross-validate Mayo's (1969) study of ‘normals with symptoms' using the new Personal Illness measures. Groups of psychiatric patients and symptom-free normals were matched with a ‘normals with symptoms' group for age and sex. The two symptom groups were similarly matched on the number of symptoms as assessed by the Delusions-Symptoms-States Inventory. On the Personality Deviance Scales the ‘normals with symptoms' were found to be the most Extrapunitive group, the symptom-free normals had the lowest Intropunitive scores, whilst the patient group were the lowest scorers on Dominance.