This paper describes a study of personality traits and psychological symptoms in hypertensive patients and in subjects with unrecognized elevation of blood pressure. The findings suggest three things. Firstly, hypertensive patients who attended an out-patient clinic showed evidence of psychological disability. Secondly, undiagnosed hypertensives were not distinguished from normotensives according to a variety of questionnaire variables. Thirdly, the existence of a hypertensive personality profile described in great detail by some writers, was not confirmed.
AymanD. (1933). The personality type of patients with arteriolar essential hypertension. Amer. J. med. Sci., 186: 213.
3.
BingerC. (1951). On so-called psychogenic influences in essential hypertension. Psychosom. Med., 13: 273.
4.
BrodmanK.ErdmannA. J.LorgeI.WolffH. G. (1949). The Cornell Medical Index: an adjunct to medical interview. J. Amer. med. Assoc., 140: 530.
5.
BrodmanK.ErdmannA. J.LorgeI.GershensonC. P.WolffH. G. (1952). The Cornell Medical Index — Health Questionnaire: the evaluation of emotional disturbances. J. clin. Psychol., 8: 119.
6.
CattellR. B.EberH. W. (1957). Handbook for the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire. Institute for Personality and Ability Testing, Champaign.
7.
CattellR. B.ScheierI. H. (1959). Extension of meaning of objective test personality factors: especially into anxiety, neuroticism, questionnaire, and physical factors. J. gen. Psychol., 61: 287.
8.
CochraneR. (1969). Neuroticism and the discovery of high blood pressure. J. psychosom. Res., 13: 21.
9.
CulpanR. H.DaviesB. M.OppenheimA. N. (1960). Incidence of psychiatric illness among hospital out-patients: an application of the Cornell Medical Index. Brit. med. J., 1: 855.
10.
DaviesM. (1970). Blood pressure and personality. J. psychosom. Res., 14: 89.
11.
DunbarH. F. (1943). Hypertensive Cardiovascular Disease, Coronary Occlusion and Anginal Syndrome, Psychosomatic Diagnosis. Hoeber, New York.
12.
EysenckH. J.ClaridgeG. (1962). The position of hysterics and dysthymics in a two-dimensional framework of personality description. J. abnorm. soc. Psychol., 64: 46.
13.
EysenckH. J.EysenckS. B. G. (1964). Manual of the Eysenck Personality Inventory. University of London, London.
14.
GibsonA. G. (1935). Hypertension. In: Medical Annual. Wright, Bristol.
15.
HamiltonJ. A. (1942). Psychophysiology of blood pressure: personality and behaviour ratings. Psychosom. Med., 4: 125.
16.
HarmanH. H. (1967). Modern Factor Analysis. 2nd Edition, Chicago University, Chicago.
17.
HillL. B. (1935). A psychoanalytic observation on essential hypertension. Psychoanalysis, 22: 60.
18.
KaiserH. F. (1958). The varimax criterion for analytic rotation in factor analysis. Psychometrika, 23: 187.
19.
KaplanS. M.GottschalkL. A.MaglioccoE. B.RohovitD. D.RossW. D. (1961). Hostility in verbal productions and hypnotic dreams of hypertensive patients; studies of groups and individuals. Psychosom. Med., 23: 311.
20.
KarsonS. (1959). The Sixteen Personality Factor Test in clinical practice. J. clin. Psychol., 15: 174.
21.
McGuireR. J.MowbrayR. M.VallanceR. C. (1963). The Maudsley Personality Inventory used with psychiatric in-patients. Brit. J. Psychol., 54: 157.
22.
MenningerK. A. (1938). Emotional factors in hypertension. Bull. N.Y. Acad. Med., 14: 198.
23.
MoschcowitzE. (1919). Hypertension: its significance, relation to arteriosclerosis and nephritis and etiology. Amer. J. med. Sci., 158: 668.
24.
OstfeldA. M.LebovitsB. Z. (1959). Personality factors and pressor mechanisms in renal and essential hypertension. Arch. intern. Med., 104: 43.
25.
RobinsonJ. O. (1962). A study of neuroticism and casual arterial blood pressure. Brit. J. soc. clin. Psychol., 2: 56.
26.
RoseG. A.HollandW. W.CrowleyE. A. (1964). A sphygmomanometer for epidemiologists. Lancet, 1: 296.
27.
SainsburyP. (1960). Psychosomatic disorders and neurosis in out-patients attending a general hospital. J. psychosom. Res., 4: 261.
28.
SainsburyP. (1964). Neuroticism and hypertension in an out-patient population. J. psychosom. Res., 8: 235.
29.
SaslowG.GresselG. C.ShobeF.O.du BoisP. H.SchroeberH. A. (1950). The possible etiological relevance of personality factors in arterial hypertension. Res. Publ. Ass. nerv. ment. Dis., 29: 881.
30.
SaulS.SheppardE. (1956). An attempt to quantify emotional forces using manifest dreams: a preliminary study. J. Amer. psychoanal. Ass., 4: 486.
31.
SpelmanM. S.LeyP. (1966). Psychological correlates of blood pressure. Med. J. Aust., 2: 1138.
32.
StormentC. T. (1951). Personality and heart disease. Psychosom. Med., 13: 304.
33.
TannerJ. M.WhitehouseR. H. (1955). Harpenden Skinfold Caliper. Amer. J. phys. Anthrop., 13: 743.
34.
ThalerM.WeinerH.ReiserM. F. (1957). Exploration of the doctor-patient relationship through projective techniques. Psychosom. Med., 19: 228.
35.
WeissE. (1942). Psychosomatic aspects of hypertension. J. Amer. med. Ass., 120: 1081.
36.
WolfeT. P. (1934). Dynamic aspects of cardiovascular symptomatology. Amer. J. Psychiat., 91: 563.