A. Speca, M. Pasquini, A. Picardi, P. Gaetano, M. Biondi - Vol. 7, Marzo 2001, num.1
Testo Immagini Bibliografia Summary Riassunto Indice
Differenze di psicopatologia di genere
in una popolazione psichiatrica generale
Gender-related psychopathological differences in a general psychiatric
population
Sexual brain dimorphism, besides resulting in psychological differences between
the two sexes, could influence the expression of psychopathology.
Objective
The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of
any gender-related psychopathological differences in a sample of patients
with psychiatric disorders. We decided to adopt a dimensional approach, due
to the inability of a category approach in classifying psychopathological
phenomena.
Method
We carried-out a longitudinal investigation on a sample of 1120 consecutively
admitted out-patients (586 men and 534 women) between May 1994 and December
1998 and received an axis I or II DSM-III-R or DSM-IV diagnosis, without restricting
to any of the categories. We assessed all patients by means of the S.VA.RA.D.
(Scale for Rapid Dimensional Assessment), a scale consisting of ten items,
each investigating one psychopathological dimension.
Results
Significant differences emerged on four of the ten dimensions investigated
by the S.VA.RA.D., namely on the Apprehension/Worrying, where women scored
1.77 and men 1.61 (p < 0.01), on the Sadness/Demoralisation dimension,
where women scored 1.65 and men 1.34 (p < 0.0001), on the Impulsiveness
dimension, where men scored higher than women (0.69 vs. 0.53 [p < 0,01])
and on the Hyperthymia/Activation dimension, where men scored 0.24 and women
0.14 (< 0.001).
Conclusions
It appears that in men motor activity, disinhibition, accelerated thought,
irritability and the tendency towards behaving inadequately or poor control
on behaviour prevail, whereas women on the contrary tend to privilege emotional
behaviour, the sense of fear and anxiety, preoccupation, constraint, imminent
danger, together with pessimism, reduction of interests and energy, lack of
self-confidence. Furthermore, it should be remarked that a dimensional approach
allowed in this study to identify and describe some common psychic functions
independently from any category-based criterion.