title: Mania, loss and defense: a percept-genetic investigation.
abstract: The defensive organization of manic states has been investigated with the Defense Mechanism Test-Separation Theme. A black and white stimulus portraying a mother figure who is leaving an infant alone was presented tachistoscopically, at increasing durations of exposure, to 22 inpatients who had had a manic episode and to 22 age- and sex-matched normal controls. The manic group was characterized by the following six major defense codings: (1) the infant is able to walk or run, (2) the mother is a rigid, inanimate being, (3) the mother is veiled or disguised, (4) the mother is protective or inviting, (5) the mother is seen as a male figure, and (6) colors are perceived in the colorless stimulus. Controls were more often coded for the denial of mother's actions (she enters the room, she opens a window, etc). The findings were discussed in the context of the pertinent percept-genetic and psychoanalytic literature.
authors.affiliation: Tor Vergata University, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: I A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Rubino
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: d'Avossa
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ciani
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology*; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D005260:Female; D006117:Grief; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009769:Object Attachment; D010469:Perceptual Distortion; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011574:Psychoanalytic Theory; D012307:Risk Factors