Some psychological and social characteristics of patients hospitalized for rheumatoid arthritis, hypertension, and duodenal ulcer.

THE PURPOSE of this report is to compare men hospitalized for rheumatoid arthritis, hypertension, or duodenal ulcer with patients from the surgical wards and with brothers and/or brothers-in-law of all of the above four groups. The comparisons are made with respect to the subjects’ interview reports of their: (1) achievement, selfesteem, and desire for change; (2) perception of parents; (3) past and present happiness and the frequency of life crises; (4) certain discrepancies in the perceptions of the subjects and their respective brothers or brothers-in-law; and (5) aggressive and impulsive behavior. The initial impetus to this exploratory study was a set of preliminary hypotheses concerning the differences to be found between patients with rheumatoid arthritis and all of the other groups of patients and controls. However, since the pattern of results is too complex to be adequately represented in the form of a series of such simple comparisons, the findings are presented by taking one variable at a time and noting the differences among all of the groups of patients and controls. In the discussion section, the results are reviewed by disease and by patients 1’s. controls.