Psikoloji Çalışmaları; 1972;10():11-96
Hipertiroidi Hastalığının İdrak ve Şahsiyet Özellikleri
M Ormanlı
İstanbul Üniversitesi, İstanbul
-
In this study, the perceptual and personality characteristics of
hyperthyroidism were studied and the possibility of psychological
tests on the diagosis and treatment of this disease was investigated.
The results of this experimental group was compared with
three control groups, namely, the normal group, other thyroid diseases
group and other endocrindl diseases group; in all, eleven different
groups of subjects took part in this experiment comprising 36^
subjects. A battery of five psychological tests were included in the
study. These were perceptual and personality tests. The perceptual
tests used were :
A. The Spiral After Effect Test (S.A.E.T.),
B. The study of perceptual span and speed by using different
sorts of stimuli in a Tachistoscope with a speed
of 1/10 sec,
C. The Mutter Lyer test of illusion,
D. The Kinephantoscope test of illusion.
The personality test used was The Kahn Test of Symbol Arrangement.
In the Spiral After Effect Test, the after effect was perceived
by all the normal subjects. But, there were a number of subjects
that • could not perceive this after effect in the diseased groups.
This ratio was up to 25 % in the hyperthyroid group.
There was also ,a number of responses in the subjects that were
not mentioned in the literature before. These were «unexpected»
responses] such as seeing the after effect in a reverse direction and
the perception of colour along the contours of the spiral. The «unexpected»
answers were more symptomatic of the diseased groups
than the normals. The colour responses were significantly more
frequent in the normal groups.
The spiral after effect falls under the classification of gamma
movement, having to do with the perception of expansion or contracting
of light as it appears or disappears. To explain the phenomenon,
certain assumptions are necessary concerning the retinal processes.
Primarily, the receptors in the center of the retina respond
more quickly than those in the periphery. Movement is seen with
the sudden cessation of movement by the spiral stimulus. Because
when the spiral is fixated on the retina, receptors in the center of
the retina respond first and are followed by those in the periphery.
Also, lowered intensity on the periphery of the retina (fixation on
the center of the spiral) causes the periphery of the retina to respond
later. Thus, we find the «expansion» effect when the spiral is
rotated in a clockwise direction. The same principal of the latency
with which receptors are activated applies for the «contraction»
effect when the spiral is stopped after counter-clockwise rotation.
Thus, an inability to perceive an after-image would seem to
indicate an absence of usual cortical excitation in response to peripheral
latency in the retina.
In the experiment with the Tachistoscope, the span and speed
of perception of the normals were fast at a statistically significant
level compared with the subjects in the diseased groups. The most interesting result was that all groups except the hypertyroid
group had a constant error in the ( + ) direction. The constant
error of the hypertyroid group was in the ( — ) direction.
In the Mutter Lyer Test of Illusion, the amount öf error was
almost 30 % in some of the diseased groups. The amount of error
in the normal group was about 10 %. It is proved that this test can
very well distinguish between the normals and the diseased subjects.
In the Kinaphantoscope Test of reversible illusion the number
of illusions evoked in the diseased groups were lower than in the
normal group.
The results of Kahn Test of Symbol Arrangement were most
interesting. The letter element of this test proved to be most helpful
in differentiating the subjects. The normal subjects gave ( Z ) and
( Y ) answers which were equal to abstract thinking, whereas ( D )
answers, equalling simple enumerations were more frequent with
the thyroid diseases. The -letter element combined with the number
element displayed the hypertyroid personality to be schizoid with a
tendency to depression and character disorder and with a possibility
of some sort of cortical damage.
The results of these experiments have proved that psychological
tests can very well be used as aiding devices in the diagnosis
of medical diseases.