Pathology of adaptation according to Sami-Ali and index of conformity to the Rorschach test in ulcerative rectocolitis [Patologia dell'adattamento secondo Sami-Ali e indice di conformismo al test di rorschach nella rettocolite ulcerosa.]

According to Sami-Ali's theoretical model the psychosomatic personality is characterised by an adaptation pathology whose main elements are the repression of imaginative thought and conformity to socio-cultural standards. This study examines adaptation pathology using the Rorschach test. The Authors have formulated a conformity index by relating kinestheses (M) and banal perceptions (BAN). The study was carried out on a sample of 41 patients suffering from ulcerous rectocolitis comprising 24 males and 17 women with a mean age of 32 years. As expected in the hypothesis 97.6% of the sample showed M values below the norm, and 68.3% had Ban values higher than normal, whereas the conformity index was positive and tendentially positive in 65.9% of cases. These findings confirm Sami-Ali's theory. Subjects with ulcerous rectocolitis form part of the adaptation pathology which characterised the psychosomatic personality, with an inverse proportionality between imaginative activity (kinesthesia below normal) and conformism (banal perceptions above the norm).