Personality traits in young adults with a history of conditioning-treated childhood enuresis.
At follow-up, 29 young adults treated previously (ages 7-14 years) for nocturnal enuresis by means of conditioning, mostly with a bed alarm, had shown no excess of mental abnormalities, including psychosomatic symptoms. To investigate whether the probands displayed personality traits that could be related to the former enuresis and its treatment, they were asked to answer a mailed questionnaire that attempts to find deviations of personality, the Karolinska Scales of Personality. The scores were compared with those of a group drawn from the general population in the same geographical area and matched for sex and age. The enuresis group was found to have moderately (but significantly) lower scores on socialization and higher scores on suspicion. Possible causes for these findings are discussed. It is concluded that conditioning therapy, which is usually successful in rapidly alleviating enuresis, can also be regarded as a safe treatment. According to this study, it does not seem to leave unwanted aftereffects that could be interpreted as expressions of persisting psychological conflicts.
Strömgren
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Institute of Psychiatric Demography, University of Aarhus, Denmark.
Thomsen
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PH
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000295:instrumentation; D002648:Child; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D004775:Enuresis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010553:Personality Development; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011340:Problem Solving; D012951:Socialization