Personality profile characteristics of patients with somatoform and anxiety-phobic disorders with phenomena of reduced criticality

Abstract

The aim: to study the personality characteristics and their relationship with reduced criticality manifestations by examining the personality profile of patients with somatoform and anxiety-phobic disorders. Materials and methods. A prospective clinical study involved 102 patients: 54 patients with somatoform disorder and 48 patients with anxiety-phobic disorder. Research methods: clinical-psychopathological, clinical-anamnestic, clinical-catamnestic, clinical-psychophenomenological and medical statistical analysis. Results. As the study result, the peculiarities of the personal characteristics of patients with somatoform and anxiety-phobic disorders and their connection with reduced criticality manifestations have been established. The most common clinical types of accentuations in patients with somatoform disorder have been revealed (“sticking-demonstrative” (16.67 % of the group), “sticking-exalted” (11.11 %), “anxious-demonstrative” (9.26 %) and “demonstrative” (9.26 %) as well as a characteristic pronounced (p < 0.05) reduction in criticality (mainly due to the phenomenon of alexithymia). The prevailing types of accentuation among the contingent with anxiety-phobic disorder (“anxious” (14.58 %) and “anxious-pedantic” (12.50 %)) had a connection (p < 0.01) with a mild degree of reduced criticality. Conclusions. Based on the differences found in the personality characteristics of patients with somatoform and anxiety-phobic disorders, variations in the degree of severity and pathogenetic mechanisms of reduced criticality have been revealed. The obtained results offer the potential to develop a personalized system for correction of reduced criticality, the use of which would improve the treatment results in patients with somatoform and anxiety-phobic disorders.