An Exploratory Study of Personality Factors in Thromboangiitis Obliterans

Eighteen carefully selected male patients having thromboangiitis obliterans were studied by psychodiagnostic methods (Rorschach, Thematic Apperception Test and Sentence Completion), and the findings were evaluated and rated by three independent psychologists skilled in diagnostic testing. Certain personality traits emerged as being characteristic of the group as a whole. The patients in this group were characterized mainly by poorly suppressed hostility, together with guilt over hostile and aggressive impulses; negativism, along with a desire to conform socially; ambition combined with strong unconscious desires for dependency which seemed to be entirely unacceptable at a conscious level; and fear of emotional involvement, particularly with members of the opposite sex, who were seen as rigid, prudish and unloving. While the findings from this size sample should not be regarded as characteristic of all patients with thromboangiitis obliterans, these individuals revealed certain traits to a degree which merits further consideration and exploration. © 1956, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.