Personality and emotional disorder in a community sample of migraine headache sufferers

Article Abstract:

Chronic migraine headache sufferers have been described clinically to be ambitious, success oriented, conscientious, perfectionistic, obsessive, emotional, rigidly moralistic, tense, of above-average intelligence, and frequently angry, resentful and hostile. To verify these reports this study selected 162 migraine sufferers and 162 control subjects from the general population and assessed their personalities and psychological distress levels. The initial screening interview discerned the frequency of headaches, their characteristics and precipitants, and whether treatment had been sought. The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire was used to assess psychoticism (tough-mindedness), neuroticism (emotionality), extraversion and dissimulation (pretense). The General Health Questionnaire was used to detect psychological distress suggestive of emotional disorders. The migraine and control groups differed dramatically on the neuroticism scale, indicating that the migraine group members were more tense, anxious, and depressed than the controls. The migraine sufferers also scored significantly higher on the psychoticism scale indicating that they described themselves as less interpersonally sensitive, more hostile, and unique from their peers. Migraine sufferers also scored significantly lower on the lie scale suggesting that they are less defensive and more self-critical and willing to admit the truth about themselves than the controls, but this could also suggest hypervigilance and perfectionism out of which ordinary experiences are interpreted as abnormal. These results suggest a modal personality described as unguarded, anxiety prone, depressive, lacking in interpersonal warmth, and somewhat alienated from peers. The General Health Questionnaire results indicated that the migraine sufferers also experienced significant psychological distress. They scored higher than the control subjects on all the symptom scales, including anxiety, depression, and impaired social functioning. According to the criteria for emotional disorder, approximately 61 percent of the migraine group and 25 percent of the control group qualified for this description. This rate among the control group is consistent with levels found in other community samples. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Psychological aspects, Migraine

---

Identifying criteria for narcissistic personality disorder

Article Abstract:

When the criteria for narcissistic personality disorder were included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, third edition (DSM-III), no empirical studies were available to help determine criteria selection. This article reviews clinical characteristics of narcissistic personality disorder to identify the most useful diagnostic criteria for this condition. Eighty-two patients with one of the following disorders were evaluated: narcissistic personality disorder (24 subjects); a cluster personality disorder, such as borderline and antisocial personality disorder (36 subjects); and other psychiatric diagnoses (22 subjects). The Diagnostic Interview for Narcissism, which included 33 character attributes, nine of which overlapped with DSM-III criteria, was administered to all subjects. The results indicated that the narcissistic patients could be successfully distinguished from the patients with other psychiatric disorders. The following nine characteristics distinguished patients with narcissistic personality disorder: superiority, uniqueness, exaggeration of talents, boastful or pretentious behavior, grandiose fantasies, self-centered and self-referential behavior, need for attention and admiration, arrogant and haughty behavior, and high achievement. Grandiosity was found to be the most outstanding characteristic among the patients with narcissistic personality disorder. The results call into question some of the DSM-III criteria and a reevaluation of these criteria may be necessary. DSM-III criteria such as envy, lack of empathy, and exploitiveness may not be useful in identifying patients with narcissistic personality disorders. Additional empirical investigations are recommended to further explore features that distinguish patients with this disorder. Areas that need examination include stability of diagnosis, familial, social, and genetic predisposition, along with response of these patients to treatment. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Narcissism

---

Current status of multiple personality disorder in India

Article Abstract:

Reports of multiple personality disorder cases continue to rise with an increased understanding of this syndrome. This increase may be due to a higher prevalence of severe childhood abuse and other traumas, but underestimation of the extent of disorder may also occur because of misdiagnoses. The authors discuss three cases they encountered over a three-year period working in an outpatient psychiatric clinic in New Delhi, India. Prior to this experience, only two cases of multiple personality disorder had ever been reported in India, one in 1956, and one 25 years later. Another case had been encountered by one author while supervising in a teaching clinic in another Indian city. All three of the cases reported here involved the youngest child in the family, and all were age 15 or 16 and had recently received severe reprimands by family members for romantic involvements. Premarital sexual interaction is culturally unacceptable in India. All of them manifested one aberrant personality, who spoke formally and with assertion and authority to their family members. All were completely unaware of this split personality and of any time that had passed while that personality was dominant. All three received outpatient psychotherapy and remained asymptomatic. Possession syndrome, another dissociative disorder, has commonly been reported in India and other eastern countries, but not in the West. This disorder also occurs predominantly in young girls, and also accomplishes the release of repressed emotions in an attempt to resolve intrafamily pressures. The differences in style and diagnoses of these disorders seem to be related to cultural social and religious differences, but they still represent parallel dissociative states with similar causes.

India, Behavioral assessment, Multiple personality, Cultural psychiatry

Similar abstracts:

• Abstracts: Body dysmorphic disorder: the distress of imagined ugliness. Imipramine and alprazolam treatment of lactate-induced acute endogenous distress in nonhuman primates
• Abstracts: Pierre Janet and the breakdown of adaptation in psychological trauma. Trauma experiences, posttraumatic stress, dissociation, and depression in Cambodian refugees

This website is not affiliated with document authors or copyright owners. This page is provided for informational purposes only. Unintentional errors are possible.