Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T16:31:15.789Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Cross-national (Anglo—Irish) differences in obsessional symptoms and traits of personality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

M. J. Kelleher
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, University of London

Synopsis

The Leyton Obsessional Inventory, together with 46 questions taken from Sections M–R of the Cornell Medical Index and the short version of the Maudsley Personality Inventory were administered to a group of orthopaedic patients made up of Irish, English, and Irish immigrants. The results indicated that the Irish subjects had more obsessional symptoms and traits and also that they appeared to be more disturbed by the possession of such attributes than did the English. Among the various cultural factors considered, the bachelor state, in the case of the Irish males, and rural dwelling, in the case of Irish females, were associated with the highest obsessional scores. Ways in which the cultural background may be related to the development of obsessional symptoms and traits are discussed and suggestions are made as to the further epidemiological implications of these findings.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1972

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

REFERENCES

Arensberg, M., and Kimball, S. T. (1968). Family and Community in Ireland. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Mass.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bazzoni, W., and Al-Issa, I. (1966). Psychiatry in Iraz. British Journal of Psychiatry, 112, 827832.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bingham, D. (1959). Obsessive-compulsive disorders in Chinese culture, in Culture and Mental Health, pp. 243245. Edited by Opler, K.. Macmillan: New York.Google Scholar
Caine, T. M., and Hawkins, L. G. (1963). Questionnaire measure of the hysteroid/obsessoid component of personality: the HOQ. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 27, 206209.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carothers, J. C. (1947). A study of mental derangement in Africans. Journal of Mental Science, 93, 548597.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Commission of Enquiry on Mental Illness (1966). Report. Stationery Office: Dublin.Google Scholar
Cooper, J., and McNeil, J. (1968). A study of houseproud housewives and their interaction with their children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 9, 173188.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooper, J. (1970). The Leyton Obsessional Inventory. Psychological Medicine, 1, 4864.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Culpan, R. H., Davies, B. M., and Oppenheim, A. N. (1960). Incidence of psychiatric illness among hospital out-patients. An application of the Cornell Medical Index. British Medical Journal, 1, 855857.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Curran, D., and Partridge, M. (1969). Psychological Medicine. 6th edn.Livingstone: Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Doyle, T. L. (1956). The problems of scrupulosity in pastoral work, in Proceedings of the Fordham Institute lor the Clergy on Problems of Pastoral Psychology, pp. 7585. Fordham University: New York.Google Scholar
Eysenck, H. J. (1959). Manual of the Maudsley Personality Inventory. University of London Press: London.Google Scholar
Foulds, G. A. (1965). Personalily and Personal Illness. Tavislock Publications: London.Google Scholar
Freud, S. (1913). Totem and Taboo, translated Strachcy, J. (1950). Routledge: London.Google Scholar
General Register Office (1968). Studies on Medical and Population Subjects. No. 22. A Glossary of Mental Disorders. HMSO: London.Google Scholar
Gittleson, N. L. (1966). The effect of obsessions on depressive psychosis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 112, 253259.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
SirHenderson, D., and Gillespie, R. D. (1962). Textbook of Psychiatry, 9th edn.Oxford University Press: London.Google Scholar
Hunter, R., and Macalpine, I. (1963). Three Hnudred Years of British Psychiatry (1535–1860). Oxford University Press: London.Google Scholar
Ingram, I. M. (1961). Obsessional illness in mental patients. Journal of Mental Science, 107, 382402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Janet, P. (1903). Les Obsessions et la Psychasthénie. Vol. I. Alcan: Paris.Google Scholar
Kanner, L. (1957). Child Psychiatry. 3rd edn.Blackwell Scientific Publications: Oxford.Google Scholar
Kelleher, M. J. (1970). Culture and Obsession. M.D. thesis, University College, Cork.Google Scholar
Kendell, R. E., and Discipio, W. J. (1970). Obsessional symptoms and obsessional personality traits in patients with depressive illnesses. Psychological Medicine, 1, 6572.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kiev, A. (1968). Curanderismo: Mexican–American Folk Psychiatry. Free Press: New York.Google Scholar
Kline, P. (1969). The anal character: a cross-cultural study in Ghana. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 8, 201210.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leighton, A. H., and others [sic.] (1963). Cornell-Aro Mental Health Research Project in the Western Region, Nigeria: Psychological Disorder among the Yoruba. Cornell University Press: Itheca, N.Y.Google Scholar
Kraepelin, E. (1909). Psychiatrie. 8 Anflage. J. A. Barth: Leipzig.Google Scholar
Lewis, A. J. (1934). Melancholia: clinical survey of depressive states. Journal of Mental Science, 80, 277378.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, A. J. (1957). La enfermedad obsesiva. Acta Neuropsiquiatrica Argentina, 3, 323335.Google Scholar
Lion, E. G. (1942). Anancastic depressions: obsessive-compulsive symptoms occurring during depressions. Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases, 95, 730738.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lo, W. H. (1967). A follow-up study of obsessional neurotics in Hong Kong Chinese. British Journal of Psychiatry, 113, 823832.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McCarthy, P. D., and Walsh, D. (1966). Suicide in Dublin. British Medical Journal, 1, 13931396.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maxwell, A. E. (1960). Analysing Qualitative Data. Methuen: London.Google Scholar
Mayer-Gross, W., Slater, E., and Roth, M. (1969). Clinical Psychiatry. 3rd edn.Cassell: London.Google Scholar
Ramsay, B. Mac. M. (1969). Personal communication.Google Scholar
Ray, S. D. (1964). Obsessional states observed in New Delhi. British Journal of Psychiatry, 110, 181182.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rosen, I. (1957). The clinical significance of obsessions in schizophrenia. Journal of Mental Science, 103, 773785.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sainsbury, P. (1960). Neuroticism in unselected outpatients attending physical medicine and orthopaedic departments. Annals of Physical Medicine, 5, 310317.Google ScholarPubMed
Sandler, J., and Hazari, A. (1960). The obsessional: on the psychological classification of obsessional character traits and symptoms. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 33, 113122.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sharma, B. P. (1968). Obsessive-compulsive neurosis in Nepal. Transcultural Psychiatric Research, 5, 3840.Google Scholar
Skoog, G., (1959). The anancastic syndrome and its relation to personality attitudes. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. Supplement 134.Google Scholar
Stekel, W. (1950). Compulsions and Doubt (Zwang and Zweifel) Vol. 1, p. 269. Authorized translation by Gutheil, E.. Neville: London.Google Scholar
Stengel, E. (1945). A study on some clinical aspects of the relationship between obsessional neurosis and psychotic reaction types. Journal of Mental Science, 91, 166187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Titley, W. B. (1936). Prepsychotic personality of patients with involutional melancholia. Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, 36, 1933.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Titley, W. B. (1938). Prepsychotic personality of patients with agitated depression. Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, 39, 333342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weisner, W. M., and Riffel, P. A. (1960). Scrupulosity: religion and obsessive compulsive behaviour in children. American Journal of Psychiatry, 117, 314318.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed