Clinical investigation in psychiatry.
A study involving correlations between personality and the fasting serum cholesterol level of normal volunteers on a fat-free diet was used to illustrate techniques of clinical investigation in psychiatry. Precise data were not quoted, but the procedure was described to show how behavioural studies differ from biological ones. Somatotyping (no significant correlation), excretion of catecholamines under stress (raised with high cholesterol levels) and classical conditioning (no significant correlation) were used as examples of simple biological functions. These were contrasted with trait ratings where one observer predicted cholesterol levels with a high degree of accuracy and another with a low and unreliable one. It seemed that the most important trait being rated was "aggressiveness", and this was probably differentially elicited by the two observers, the one male and authoritarian, the other female and permissive. Such an interaction distorted the information obtained to a degree seldom seen in other data-gathering situations. Estimated and actual achievement on a competitive pin-ball game failed to show significant correlations with other traits. Questionnaires on the attitudes of the subjects' mothers suggested some correlation between severity of training and aggressivity. The techniques of personality investigation described embraced behavioural observations which, it was suggested, were ill-taught in existing undergraduate medical curricula.
D000124:Achievement; D000374:Aggression; D001290:Attitude; D001318:Authoritarianism; D018752:Diet, Fat-Restricted; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders; D010551:Personality; D010552:Personality Assessment; D010554:Personality Disorders; D011570:Psychiatry; D012919:Social Behavior; D013334:Students; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
MENTAL DISORDERS