[Personality characteristics of hypertensive patients. Study of subjects with essential hypertension compared to a control population].

Starting from projective situations--thematic apperception test (TAT) we have researched personality characteristics liable to be found in hypertensive subjects. With reference to a control group of 59 subjects we have studied 41 essential hypertensive subjects. They undergo a preliminary interview structured on the questionnaire type, are classically tested with the TAT, have one or several free interviews. These data are exploited on three levels and contents = manifest, latent, adaptive. It emerges that there are permanent biographical elements (elements of reactivation. Difficulty to put up with aggressiveness, object loss anxiety, use of operative thought back of adaptation = absence of solution to conflicts and possibilities of passage ?), personality patterns in between obsessional pole neurosis and limit state (Bergeret's nosography). These data partly overlap other research, they encompass a wider field than hypertension, given the structures involved (limit state, psychosomatic component). The lack of mentalization justifies the use of therapeutic techniques such as relaxation, biofeedback...