Oral, Obsessive, and Hysterical Personality Patterns: An Investigation of Psychoanalytic Concepts by Means of Factor Analysis

Abstract

THIS STUDY is an attempt to explore the empirical basis of three personality types frequently discussed in the psychiatric litera ture—oral, obsessive, and hysterical. More specifically, the trait patterns which histori cally have been said to characterize each of the three personality types will be reex amined by means of factor analysis, and a self-rating form will be offered as a measure of these personality types.* In order to understand the significance, the limitations, and the theoretical framework of this research, we shall first describe the content out of which it emerged, including a preliminary experiment which partially failed. Our interest in personality arose from our observations of the relationship between personality and symptom formation in de pressed women.19We noted, for instance, that depressed women with hysterical per sonalities differed from depressed women with obsessional personalities in their pre hospital adjustment, in their patterns o depressive symptomatology, in