A context study of psychological conditions prior to shifts in blood pressure.
Shifts in intra-arterially registered blood pressure during an initial interview were studied in 4 young patients with essential hypertension by means of the Symptom Context Method. The relationships found between both formal variables and thematic categories of speech anteceding blood pressure shifts were in terms of patient and interviewer. All patients showed an increased rate of speech before blood pressure elevations, and in 3 of them the thematic content of 'personal failing, personal failure', 'loss of status of being useful and needed', and 'failure of others to meet the standards of the patient' was more often present before pressure elevations than decreases.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001795:Blood Pressure Determination; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D013060:Speech; D014705:Verbal Behavior