A paper co-authored by Professor Toshio Kawai has been published in Volume 60 of the journal Psychologia.

A paper co-authored by Professor Toshio Kawai has been published in Volume 60 of the journal Psychologia.

The objective of this study was to investigate the psychological characteristics of patients undergoing surgery for either Graves’ Disease or papillary thyroid cancer.

In this study, test batteries comprising a self-report questionnaire (the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20)) and a projective Baum test were administered before and after surgery. The former assesses the tendency for alexithymia; the latter is based on a tree drawn by the subject and assesses less conscious aspects.

In the study, preoperative patients exhibited certain tendencies in both the TAS-20 and the Baum test. Postoperatively, there were changes in TAS-20 responses in items related to thinking and feeling. Subjects showed individual differences in postoperative changes in the Baum test, resulting in a categorization of patients into three groups: those with stable trees, those with unstable trees, and those with unchanged trees. The authors concluded that psychotherapy is required for those who showed more fundamental changes in the Baum test.

Chihiro Hasegawa, Toshio Kawai, Mika Tanaka, and Atsushi Fukao. (2017). Psychological Characteristics of Surgical Patients with Thyroid Disease. Psychologia, 60 (4), 217-232.

2020/03/12