Personality and object relations in patients with affective disorders: idiographic research by means of the repertory grid technique

• Published in: Journal of affective disorders 2000-10, Vol.60 (1), p.53-59
• Main Authors: Böker, H., Hell, D., Budischewski, K., Eppel, A., Härtling, F., Rinnert, H., von Schmeling, F., Will, H., Schoeneich, F., Northoff, G.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adaptation, Psychological; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Affective disorders; Biological and medical sciences; Depressive Disorder - complications; Depressive Disorder - diagnosis; Female; Humans; Idiographic method; Male; Medical sciences; Miscellaneous; Mood disorders; Mood Disorders - complications; Mood Disorders - diagnosis; Object Attachment; Object relations; Personality; Personality Disorders - complications; Personality Disorders - diagnosis; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Repertory grid-technique; Self Concept; Severity of Illness Index; Surveys and Questionnaires
• ISSN: 0165-0327; 1573-2517
• DOI: 10.1016/S0165-0327(99)00161-5

Background: This paper presents an idiographic approach to evaluate the self concept and the self-object-relationship of patients suffering from affective disorders. Methods: Significant dimensions of the personality and the object relations of 127 depressive patients and 34 orthopaedic patients were investigated with the repertory grid-technique. The self concept and the object relations were compared by means of nomothetically used idiographic results after recovery from manifest depression. Results: ‘Low self esteem’ was frequently found in patients with a long lasting course of illness and the ICD-10-diagnoses of ‘bipolar affective disorder’ and ‘dysthymia’. The object relations of the depressive sample were characterised by the dimension ‘symbiotic near’; ‘ambivalent’ and ‘indifferent’ partnership relationships were found much more frequently in the controls. Conclusions: The idiographic results help to differentiate the spectrum of affective disorders. They underline the importance of the interpersonal dimension of depression and may be used as a basis of a therapeutic appraisal. Limitations: The repertory grid-technique may not be used as a diagnostic instrument. However, the combination of idiographic results with further clinical informations enables the multidimensional assessment of the self concept and psychosocial coping mechanisms.