Individual Differences in Behavioral Reactions of Psychiatric Patients to Brief Partial Sensory Deprivation

Abstract

30 hospitalized psychiatric in-patients exposed to a few hours of partial sensory deprivation (SD) showed a wide range of individual differences in their reactions. Reduced symptoms and improved intellectual functioning after SD were the predominant group trends, but some individuals showed substantial changes in opposite directions. Individual differences in behavioral reactions during and after SD were significantly related to MMPI personality characteristics. Symptom reduction after SD was a function of characteristics quite different from those usually associated with prognosis for conventional verbal psychotherapy. The results suggested that many persons unlikely to benefit from traditional therapeutic procedures might show improved personality and intellectual functioning after a brief exposure to SD. There were many other complex relationships between personality variables and reactions to SD.