Objective

The subjective experience of catatonic patients was investigated with the repertory grid-technique after recovery from the acute state of disease and compared with non-catatonic schizoaffective and depressive patients.

Methods

The sample consists of 18 catatonic patients, 22 schizoaffective, 16 unipolar depressive, 8 unipolar manic and 23 patients with bipolar affective disorder as well as of 32 psychiatrically healthy orthopaedic controls. Interviews were held well before discharge. The contents of personal constructs was analyzed by means of modified Landfield categories.

Results

"Self" of catatonic patients did not differ significantly from the other groups. The "Idealself" of catatonic patients differed significantly in the categories "high self esteem" (from the controls and the non-catatonic group) and "high empathy" (from the controls). The "disease-self" ("In the acute catatonic state") was construed as isolated (lack of social contact). The results underline the importance of an active therapeutical interaction in the acute catatonic state. The modified Landfield Categories proved to be a useful psychodiagnostic instrument for the idiographic assessment of personality in particular, and for psychiatric therapy research in general.