psychological characteristics of japanese patients with chronic pain assessed by the rorschach test心理特征的日本慢性疼痛患者评估罗夏测试.pdfVIP

Yamamoto et al. BioPsychoSocial Medicine 2010, 4:20 /content/4/1/20 RESEARCH Open Access Psychological characteristics of Japanese patients with chronic pain assessed by the Rorschach test 1,2* 1 1 1 1 1 Kazumi Yamamoto , Kenji Kanbara , Hiromi Mutsuura , Ikumi Ban , Yasuyuki Mizuno , Tetsuya Abe , 3 3 1,2 1 Maki Yoshino , Aran Tajika , Yoshihide Nakai , Mikihiko Fukunaga Abstract Background: The increasing number of patients with chronic pain in Japan has become a major issue in terms of the patient’s quality of life, medical costs, and related social problems. Pain is a multi-dimensional experience with physiological, affective, cognitive, behavioral and social components, and recommended to be managed via a combination of bio-psycho-social aspects. However, a biomedical approach is still the dominant method of pain treatment in Japan. The current study aimed to evaluate comprehensive psychological functions and processes in Japanese chronic pain patients. Methods: The Rorschach Comprehensive System was administered to 49 in-patients with non-malignant chronic pain. Major variables and frequencies from the test were then compared to normative data from non-patient Japanese adults by way of the t-test and chi-square test. Results: Patients exhibited high levels of emotional distress with a sense of helplessness with regard to situational stress, confusion, and ambivalent feelings. These emotions were managed by the patients in an inappropriate manner. Cognitive functions resulted in moderate dysfunction in all stages. Information processing tended to focus upon minute features in an inflexible ma