Study of some psychological factors in relation to malignancies

ABSTRACT

This study was done on 30 patients with malignancies and 20 healthy control subjects were selected from the employees in Zagazig University Hospital. Middlesex Hospital Questionnaire [MHQ] was used in psychological assessment, in addition to clinical psychiatric assessment. The results revealed preponderance of the trait of extra- version in these patients. Also, past history of childhood and /or adolescence trauma revealed frequent incidence of only single event, that is parental death, past history of psychiatric disorders was not conclusive, yet past history of depression was more frequent than other disorders. Patients scored pathological levels on depression, anxiety and somatic scales of MHQ, proved an increase of obsession to a pathological level in these patients, that is not significantly different from controls