Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T15:54:45.606Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Hostile emotion and obsessional neurosis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

David G. Millar*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Leeds
*
1Address for correspondence: Mr David G. Millar, Adult Department, The Tavistock Clinic, Belsize Lane, London NW3 5BA.

Synopsis

The literature on the place of hostile emotion in obsessional neurosis is reviewed. In the main study 11 obsessional neurotic and 11 depressive patients matched for severity of illness were given questionnaires to measure experienced hostility and anger, and a repertory grid of standard form. The obsessional group showed a qualitatively distinct correlational pattern of measured aspects of hostility–anger, including a high correlation between outwardly directed aspects of hostility and anger; this pattern was replicated in a validation study. In contrast, the obsessional group was not differentiated by a negative cognitive set. Treatment implications for obsessional neurosis are briefly discussed.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1983

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bandura, A. (1973). Aggression. A Social Learning Analysis. Prentice Hall: Englewood Cliffs, N.J.Google Scholar
Beck, A. (1967). Depression: Clinical, Experimental and Theoretical Aspects. Harper & Row: New York.Google Scholar
Beech, H. R. (1979). Unpublished Lecture to the Department of Psychiatry, Leeds, in November 1979.Google Scholar
Beech, H. R. & Vaughan, M. (1978). The Behavioural Treatment of Obsessional States. Wiley: Chichester.Google Scholar
Caine, T. M., Foulds, G. A. & Hope, K. (1967). Manual of the Hostility and Direction of Hostility Questionnaire. University of London Press: London.Google Scholar
Cooper, J. E. (1970). The Leyton Obsessional Inventory. Psychological Medicine 1, 4864.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davanloo, H. (ed.) (1980). Short-term Dynamic Psychotherapy. Jason Aronson: New York.Google Scholar
Edmunds, G. & Kendrick, D. C. (1980). The Measurement of Human Aggressiveness. Ellis Harwood: Chichester.Google Scholar
Freud, S. (1913). The disposition to obsessional neurosis. A contribution to the problem of choice of neurosis. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Vol. 12, pp. 311326. Hogarth Press: London.Google Scholar
Hildebrand, H. P. (1953). A factorial study of introversion– extraversion by means of objective tests. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis: University of London.Google Scholar
Kendell, R. E. & Discipio, W. J. (1970). Obsessional symptoms and obsessional personality traits in patients with depressive illnesses. Psychological Medicine 1, 6572.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Malan, D. (1979). Individual Psychotherapy and the Science of Psychodynamics. Butterworth: London.Google Scholar
Malan, D. (1980). The most important development since the discovery of the unconscious. In Short-term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ed. Davanloo, H.), pp. 1323. Jason Aronson: New York.Google Scholar
Marks, I. M. (1965). Patterns of Meaning in Psychiatric Patients. Oxford University Press: London.Google Scholar
Marks, I. M., Stern, R. S., Mawson, D., Cobb, J. & McDonald, R. (1980). Clomipramine and exposure for obsessive–compulsive rituals: I. British Journal of Psychiatry 136, 125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Millar, D. G. (1980). A repertory grid study of obsessionality: distinctive cognitive structure or distinctive cognitive content? British Journal of Medical Psychology 53, 5966.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rycroft, C. (1970). Anxiety and Neurosis. Penguin: Harmondsworth.Google Scholar
Sandler, J. & Joffe, W. G. (1965). Notes on childhood depression. International Journal of Psychoanalysis 46, 8896.Google ScholarPubMed
Slade, P. D. (1974). Psychometric studies of obsessional illness and obsessional personality. In Obsessional States (ed. Beech, H. R.), pp. 95109. Methuen: London.Google Scholar
Slater, P. (1972). Notes on Ingrid 72. Academic Department of Psychiatry, St George's Hospital: London.Google Scholar
Snaith, R. P., Ahmed, S. N., Mehta, S. & Hamilton, M. (1971). Assessment of the severity of primary depressive illness. Wakefield Self-Assessment Depression Inventory. Psychological Medicine 1, 143149.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Snaith, R. P., Constantopoulos, A. A., Jardine, M. Y. & McGraffin, P. (1978). A clinical scale for the self-assessment of irritability. British Journal of Psychiatry 132, 164171.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stern, R. S. & Cobb, J. P. (1978). Phenomenology of obsessive–compulsive neurosis. British Journal of Psychiatry 132, 233239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, V. J. & Beech, H. R. (1969). Mood state and the ritualistic behaviour of obsessional patients. British Journal of Psychiatry 115, 12611268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar