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Responses of adolescent, middle-aged, and aged females on the Gerontological and Thematic Apperception Tests.

The Gerontological and Thematic Apperception Tests were administered to adolescent, middle-aged, and aged non-institutionalized females with 30 subjects in each age group. Content of themes elicited did not differ between age groups for each test nor was the GAT found superior to the TAT in eliciting themes reflecting problems of the aged as claimed by authors of the GAT.

Adolescent

Prediction of locus of control orientation from the Thematic Apperception Test.

This study attempted to predict locus of control orientation from responses to the Thematic Apperception Test. Forty male and 40 female undergraduates who scored at the extremes on the Rotter Locus of Control Scale responded to TAT cards. By use of Dies' rating procedure; two judges predicted Ss' locus of control orientation with 70% accuracy. Because an external orientation was predicted with much greater efficiency than an internal orientation, it was suggested that the TAT cards may elicit more external than internal responses.

Female

Gender bias on the Thematic Apperception Test.

Thirty male and 30 female college students generated stories to a set of nine Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) cards with either male or female stimulus characters. The Fine scoring system was factor analyzed to produce seven factor clusters plus three outcome variables. Multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed a main effect for type of card. The female TAT cards elicited significantly more responses on the General Concerns scale than did the male TAT cards. A main effect for subject gender showed the females gave more responses than males on the Interpersonal Relations scale. No differences were found on the outcome variables.

Adult

Formal characteristics of Thematic Apperception Test stories as indices of emotional disturbance in children.

Formal characteristics of stories told about picture cards from the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) were defined as reflecting the storyteller's ability to accomplish the task and were distinguished from content that expresses the unique concerns of the individual. It was argued that increased emphasis on formal aspects of TAT responses is warranted, because these characteristics can be determined more objectively and are more suitable for direct group comparison. Therefore, the variables included in our study consisted of an integration and expansion of formal characteristics previously developed with adults, which showed promise in differentiating disturbed and normal groups of children. Based on these formal characteristics of TAT stories, 95% of the comparison group members and 85% of the disturbed group members were correctly classified. Emotionally disturbed boys (n = 40) differed from a comparison group (n = 40) on seven formal scoring categories which were hypothesized to differentiate the groups.

Adaptation, Psychological

The Thematic Apperception Test as an aid in understanding the psychodynamics of development of chronic idiopathic pain syndrome.

41 chronically ill low-back pain patients (27 women, 14 men) with a long history of work disablement (median = 2 years and 8 months) were submitted to thematic apperception testing (TAT). The tape-recorded protocols were evaluated by 2 independent, experienced clinicians well acquainted with the TAT, as well as with psychoanalytic theory and technique. The 2 evaluators judged almost all the patients as depressive, alexithymic, passive and antiaggressive with clear tendencies to reaction formation towards underlying aggressivity. Many patients were further judged as guilt-ridden with an unresolved oedipal conflict, while others had a deep oral problem with suicidal tendencies. Two of the patients were judged by both evaluators as having psychotic or prepsychotic traits. Overall interrater reliability was very high, with a correlation for the different categories between 0.50 and 0.76 (median 0.72 and p value never below 0.005). Our results indicate that one of the main characteristics of low-back pain patients is the denial of aggression. Other main features of our patients were depressivity, passivity and oral or oedipal conflicts, alexithymia and lack of internal locus of control. Also we find the TAT as a very suitable test for achieving the understanding of the complexity of the problem of pain.

Activities of Daily Living

The structuring of interpersonal relations in schizophrenic adolescents: a decentering analysis of Thematic Apperception Test stories.

This study tested the hypothesis that schizophrenics employ more developmentally immature levels of decentering in their structuring of interpersonal relations. A 9-point scale of interpersonal decentering, developed originally by Feffer, was applied to Thematic Appercetion Test stories produced by schizophrenic adolescents and a control group of psychiatrically disturbed patients equivalent in age and intellectual functioning. Results provided convincing support for the hypothesis tested and suggest the theoretical utility of viewing interpersonal deficit in schizophrenia from a cognitive-developmental perspective.

Adolescent

[Psychological diagnosis of sluggish schizophrenia (according to thematic apperception test findings)].

The paper deals with a pilot study of fine, slightly expressed disorders of mental activity in patients with sluggish schizophrenia. The results of themotical apperceptive tests used in these cases were thoroughly analyzed by the author. Three general types of plots, characteristic of such patients were distinguished. These features can be used in clinical practice as a supplementary diagnostical method in the evaluation of a sluggish form of schizophrenia.

Adult

Perceptions of emotionally disturbed male adolescents on the Thematic Apperception Test.

20 boys aged 13 to 16 yr. and in classrooms for educationally handicapped students were studied by the TAT for adaptive functioning. Scored for pAggression, pDominance, nAggression, nAchievement, and nAutonomy, responses indicated that interactions between these disturbed adolescents and their environment were most likely to involve aggression and dominance and least apt to deal with achievement. Although IQs for all boys were average or above (M: 106), typical responses to the pictures were descriptive rather than development of a complete story. Difficulty in the expression of prediction and interpretation of personal experience was indicated.

Achievement

Black Thematic Apperception Test stimulus material.

A factorial design was used to test variations of the TAT based on racial characteristics. The subjects consisted of 135 black Southern males divided into three test groups of 45 subjects each. The M-TAT, T-TAT, or an experimental version of the TAT for blacks was group administered to each test group of 45 subjects. Each of the three test groups were further divided into three age groups of 15 subjects each designated as residents, college students or high school students. Subjects' responses to the racial characteristics and needs content across tests and age groups were examined. The data revealed: (a) subjects could distinguish the racial characteristics of black and white TAT material, (b) subjects indicated that black TAT material facilitated the writing of their stories, (c) subjects viewed the black TAT characters as more like "people in general," (d) both figure and background stimuli are important to subjects, and (e) content differences on need for achievement was found between age groups.

Adolescent

[Thematic Apperception Test: psychodiagnosis in heroin-dependent patients].

The aim of our work is the search of some differential psychopathologic features or categories in the personality of the heroin addict, through the application of Murray TAT. Which, we try to contrast with another contributions carried out until the present time. On the other hand, other parameters of sociolaboral and demographic character have been valued. We do not detect a structure of uniform personality, through we observe clear differences with respect to people who are not dependent on drugs. According to the results we have found, there are a larger number of psychopathologic elements in the whole of the heroin addict personality, as a greater low self-esteem, a suicidal inclination, a problematic with authority models, an evasión of aggressiveness, feelings of anxiety and quiltiness, without being a universal pattern.

Adult

[Masked depression].

The study comprised 25 patients with masked depression and 30 patients with endogenous depression. According to the general characteristics both groups were homogenous and accordingly, comparable. Together with clinical evaluation of depressive syndrome, psychological management was applied. Rorschach test, Thematic Apperception Test and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory were used in the study. In the clinical picture of masked depressions somatovegetative disorders dominated and depressive behavior in endogenous depression. The frequence of suicid does not differ between patients with masked and endogenous depression.

Adult

[Clinical psychopathological characteristics of acute atypical circular affective psychoses].

The clinical reality of acute atypical affective psychoses is recognized by almost all psychiatrists. A total of 229 cases of atypical circular psychosis have been studied. In many of these cases the "psychodynamic mobility" of the personality, i.e., the "fixed attitude" according to Usnadse, was studied in addition to a clinical analysis. The method used for this is described, and a number of criteria for evaluation are reported. Also, the thematic apperception test and Rorschach test as well as electroencephalographic examinations have been carried out on many of the patients included in this study. The results of clinical-psychopathological and experimental-psychological examinations enable better diagnoses of acute atypical affective psychoses to be established.

Diagnosis, Differential

Can communication deviance be measured in a family problem-solving interaction?

Communication deviance (CD) refers to confusing and fragmented communication that prevents family members from attaining a shared focus of attention and meaning. Levels of communication deviance based on individual parental projective test protocols--Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) and Rorschach--have repeatedly been found to be higher in parents of schizophrenic offspring than in parents of normal or nonpsychotic offspring. CD has also been measured in family transactions in which parents and their offspring interact with one another around a projective test stimulus, the Consensus Rorschach. There have been relatively few attempts to measure specific CD codes in familial interaction that is not initiated around an ambiguous visual stimulus. The present article examines the reliability and construct validity of an interactional measure (ICD) obtained from family transactions in which parents and patients are working toward the solution of a salient family problem. ICD from this family problem-solving task was compared to more traditional measures of CD from parental TAT protocols in a sample of 59 parents of 37 recent-onset schizophrenic patients. Results indicated that CD could be reliably measured in an interactive setting not initiated around a projective test stimulus, and provided evidence for the construct validity of ICD.

Adolescent

The use of projective assessment techniques in pediatric research.

A variety of projective techniques are available to pediatric nurse researchers. This article focuses on four of the most frequently used projective assessment techniques in pediatric research: the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT); the Child Apperception Test (CAT); the Rorschach; and Human Figure Drawings (HFDs). Each of these techniques is described in terms of the underlying theoretical framework for its development, instructions for use with children, reliability and validity, and major findings from health care and nursing literature. Ten recommendations are provided to help nurse researchers ensure that their data meet reasonable criteria for objectivity to allow for replication of their investigations. Despite the often contradictory, inconclusive research findings, there is a role for projective techniques both in clinical practice and research.

Child

Hostility of asocial youth as measured by the TAT and Rorschach.

23 boys and 13 girls, aged 13 to 17 yr., from two homes for delinquents were given the Thematic Apperception Test. Girls were also given the Rorschach. The 1960 Hafner and Kaplan TAT and Rorschach hostility indices were related to the 1977 Luukkonen indices (aggression-inward, aggression-outward, fantasy-aggression, oral, anal and phallic content), to the Pruitt and Spilka empathy index, and to the Neiger reality index. The TAT hostility index for boys was significantly higher than that for girls; boys expressed more physical and girls more verbal hostility in TAT stories. On the Rorschach, aggression outward and inward correlated significantly with Rorschach hostility, phallic and oral themes.

Acting Out

Adaptation of siblings to childhood malignancy.

To explore the impact of childhood cancer, school-aged patients and their healthy siblings from 71 families were given one or more of the following psychologic tests: the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale, the Bene-Anthony Family Relations Test, and the Thematic Apperception Test. The siblings showed even more distress than the patients in the areas of perceived social isolation, perception of their parents as overindulgent and overprotective of the sick child, fear of confronting family members with negative feelings, and concern with failure (older siblings only). In other areas, such as anxiety and vulnerability to illness and injury, the patients' and siblings' experience appeared very similar. These results indicate that siblings, like patients, experience severe stress when confronted with a chronic, life-threatening illness such as cancer. In recognizing and attending to their needs, one can practice primary prevention in pediatrics by facilitating their healthy adaptation to a very difficult situation.

Adaptation, Psychological

[Obesity and mental disorders in childhood].

The aim of the present study was to establish the prevalence and the type of psychiatric disturbances in a group of 42 obese children (18 boys aged from 6.8 to 13.8 years and 24 girls aged from 2.8 to 15.4 years; weight excess mean +/- 1SD 146.7 +/- 17.4%) and to evaluate the efficacy of a psychological approach of obesity in childhood. The children were in a normal caloric diet and they were encouraged to reach a "target weight" in a given period of time. 22 children were randomly assigned the "analyzed" group (auxological, alimentary and psychological evaluation) and 20 to the "control" group (auxological and alimentary assessment). The psychological evaluation was performed in 20 children (the parents of two children refused to give their consent) by the following tests: creative drawing test; draw a man test (Machover); draw a tree test (Koch); draw a family test (Co-man); Rorschach's test; TAT (Thematic Apperception Test) or, in the younger, the Düss's tales. The results of these psychological tests have been communicated to the patients and or parents. The children were followed for a period of 7 months. We found in 8 children (40%) personality disturbances (which were severe in two cases) and a psychological support was started. The observed main types of disturbances were depression and anxiety. Both were due to a missing harmony between their parents, to a difficult relationship either with their mother or with other children, and to the bad child's opinion of himself. In 4 subjects a psychological support associated with diet promoted a slow, progressive and continuous weight loss.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent