Repertory Grid Diagnostics by means of self identity plots: an empirical
study with 1009 psychosomatic in-patients
Frank Schoeneich*, Alrun Seidler*, Otto B Walter**, Cora Weber*, Pia
Thier*, Burghard F. Klapp*
* Charité/Virchow Clinic, Medical School of Humboldt University,
Internal Medicine - Psy-chosomatics, Berlin, ** GridLab-Software-Development,
Berlin
Abstract
Introduction: The aim of this study is to investigate the self-regulation
of psychosomatic inpa-tients by means of self identity plots (SIP; Norris
& Makhlouf-Norris, 1976).
Method: 1009 consecutive psychosomatic in-patients from 1988 to 1996
were involved in the study. Clinical diagnoses resulted in the following
ICD-10 groups: (a) anxious-depressive neu-rotic syndromes: n=323, (b) eating
disorders: n=180, (c) somatoform disorders: n=361, and (d) adjustment disorders/structural
organic lesions: n=145. SIPs were generated with standardized distances
according to Hartmann (1992).
Results: Significant correlations between SIP-findings and ICD-groups
were found: unlike clini-cally depressed patients, who show a marked "actual
self" - "ideal self" divergence (self aliena-tion), patients with somatoform
disorders demonstrate a striking convergence of these two self-elements.
Patients with eating disorders reveal a profile with less "actual self"
- ideal self" con-vergence, patients with adjustment disorders show more
often "actual self" - ideal self" conver-gence than statistically expected.
Conclusions: In particular, the frequency of self convergence/self
alienation, or the lack of these findings, appears to separate patients
with various diagnostic classifications on from another. Self alienation
speak for the presence of a depressive disorder and self convergence for
a somatoform disorder in the sense of a defence against depression.
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