The psychodynamic side of leprosy - a Children's Apperception Test (CAT) study.
The present investigation attempts to study the personality characteristics of children suffering from leprosy. A group of eleven children was selected from the Central Jalma Institute for Leprosy and Kusht Seva Sadan at Tajganj, Agra. Indian adaptation of Leopold Bellak's Children's Apperception Test (CAT) was employed for collecting the data. The most salient features which were charted out are that they have a general craving for sociogenic needs like love and affection, security, affiliation, cooperation etc. Their anxiety level tends to be high due to certain conflicts. The obvious fact has been that leprosy appears as a somatic devastation in the presence of highly active psychogenic starvation of personality.
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007918:Leprosy / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D013803:Thematic Apperception Test