Content Analysis of Verbal Behavior : Significance in Clinical Medicine and Psychiatry

The psychological states of patients with diabetes mellitus were compared with those of patients suffering from other chronic diseases and people with no diagnosed chronic diseases. These states were assessed by applying content analysis scales to transcripts of their descriptions of their current experiences. Analyses of the diabetics' scale scores re­ vealed a pattern characterized by much anxiety, depression, anger expressed both direct­ ly and indirectly, together with feelings of helplessness. The sources of anxiety which proved to be of most importance to them were fears of death and bodily mutilation, as weIl as guilt and shame. They experienced little sense of sharing with most people around them, although they showed considerable enjoyment of dose relationships with family and friends. This pattern of psychological states did not vary with the sex of the patients or whether they were interviewed in a hospital or at horne nor with recency of onset or multiplicity of health problems. It was similar to the pattern of patients with other chronic diseases but differed significantly from that of the healthy group. Acknowledgment The authors wish to acknowledge the contribution ofCarol Preston to the collection and analysis of these data which were made available, inpart, by patients of the Wollongong Hospital and members of the Illawarra Branch of the Diabetic Association of N ew South Wales. References 1. Strong JA, Baird JD (1971) Diseases ofthe endocrine system. In: Davidson S, McLeod J (eds) The principles and practice of medicine. Front Matter....Pages I-IX Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Content Analysis: Overview of a Measurement Method....Pages 3-7 Front Matter....Pages 9-9 Behavioral Text and Psychological Context: On Pragmatic Verbal Behavior Analysis....Pages 11-28 Research Using the Gottschalk-Gleser Content Analysis Scales in English Since 1969....Pages 29-46 Studies Proving the Validity of the Gottschalk-Gleser Content Analysis Scales in German-Speaking Countries....Pages 47-53 Assessment of Psychological States Through Content Analysis of Verbal Communications....Pages 55-84 Front Matter....Pages 85-85 An Interpersonal Measure of Hostility Based on Speech Context....Pages 87-93 Microcomputers as Aids to Avoid Error in Gottschalk-Gleser Rating....Pages 95-103 A Depression Scale Applicable to Verbal Samples....Pages 105-122 Content Analysis of Verbal Behavior in Psychotherapy Research: A Comparison Between Two Methods....Pages 123-130 Front Matter....Pages 131-131 Use of the Gottschalk-Gleser Verbal Content Analysis Scales with Medically Ill Patients....Pages 133-148 Affective Content of Speech and Treatment Outcome in Bruxism....Pages 149-156 Psychological States in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus....Pages 157-169 Emotional Impact of Mastectomy....Pages 171-187 Some Sources of Alienation for Drug Addicts....Pages 189-196 Content Analysis of Speech of Schizophrenic and Control Adoptees and Their Relatives: Preliminary Results....Pages 197-205 Alexithymia and Affective Verbal Behavior of Psychosomatic Patients and Controls....Pages 207-213 Expression of Positive Emotion by People Who Are Physically Ill: Is It Evidence of Defending or Coping?....Pages 215-224 Affective Content of Speech as a Predictor of Psychotherapy Outcome....Pages 225-230 Aggressiveness in Psychotherapy and Its Relationship with the Patient’s Change: An Adaptation of the Gottschalk-Gleser Hostility Scales to the Portuguese Language....Pages 231-247 A Preliminary Report on Antidepressant Therapy and Its Effects on Hope and Immunity....Pages 249-255 Front Matter....Pages 131-131 The Pharmacokinetics of Some Psychoactive Drugs and Relationships to Clinical Response....Pages 257-267 Back Matter....Pages 269-281