[The influence of emotions related to the disease on writing disorders in brain damaged patients].
Disorders in writing in brain damaged patients can be the result of not only organic pathology but also emotional response to the disease. A disclosure of disorders connected with emotions can be indication to use the different form of psychotherapy, also expressive writing, that often help the patient to overcome his emotional problems. THE AIM OF THE STUDY is to analyze changes in brain damaged patients' writing in the situation of projective test performance that insist the patient to confrontation with negative emotions related to the disease and reveal his attitude towards the disease.


METHODS
Fifty brain damaged patients were examined. The patients wrote in the spontaneous way about the matter not aroused any significant emotions, and next did Sentence Completion Test by Sacks and Levy. In the result organic errors and inaccuracies in writing, and also the tendency to omit answers to the emotionally difficult questions, disorders of attention and movement disorders were searched for.


RESULTS
Organic writing disorders were detected in 30 patients, inaccuracies in 35, the tendency to omit emotionally difficult questions in 25, disorders of attentions in 25, and movement disorders in 40 ones. In the Sentence Completion Test inaccuracies did significantly more patients than in writing about a neutral theme. Inaccuracies were also correlated with tendency to omit emotionally difficult questions. Organic errors in writing were related to the disorders of attention, movement disorders and patients' age.


CONCLUSIONS
50% of patients do not reveal negative emotions related to the disease. The necessity of confrontation with negative emotions promotes inaccuracies in writing in more patients than in writing about neutral theme. Organic errors in writing are connected with disorders of attention, movement disorders and patients' age.
Jarzebska
Ewa
E
Akademia Medyczna we Wrocławiu, Katedra i Klinika Neurologii. ewajarz@wp.pl
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D000368:Aged; D000381:Agraphia / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged