ABSTRACT
The objective, diagnostic approach to personal distress has been shown to have many drawbacks. While transactional factors are considered 110to play a part in the organization of complaints, these complaints may also reflect aspects of personality, conceptualized in terms of personal adjustment strategies.
Our data suggest a broad differentiation, between patients who emphasize interpersonal difficulties and those who present complaints with an external locus (e.g. phobic or somatic). The former are inwardly directed in interest, have ‘liberal’ social attitudes and ‘psychological’ treatment expectancies; the latter are more outwardly directed in interest, have ‘conservative’ social attitudes and traditional ‘medical-physical’ treatment expectancies.
