[Extensive dermoid cyst occupying almost the entire floor of the mouth in a juvenile patient]. / Ausgedehnte Dermoidzyste nahezu des gesamten Mundbodens bei einer jugendlichen Patientin.

This article presents a case report of a 15-year-old female patient with an substantial swelling of the floor of the mouth and the submandibular region with impairment of deglutition and speech. Descriptions of the diagnostic and operative procedures are given. The histological examination revealed the typical pattern of a dermoid cyst but such dimensions are rare. Complete removal is necessary to prevent fulminant inflammation and disorders of function; furthermore the risk of a malignant transformation is seldom but present.

[Self concept and object relations of patients with affective disorders--individual centered diagnosis with the repertory-grid technique]. / Selbstkonzept und Objektbeziehungen bei Patientlnnen mit affektiven Störungen. Individuumzentrierte Diagnostik mit der Repertory-Grid-Technik.

Significant dimensions of the self concept and the object relations of 127 depressive patients and 34 orthopaedic patients were investigated with the repertory-grid-technique. Self concept and object relations were compared by means of nomothethically used idiographic results after recovery from manifest depression. The object relations of the depressive sample were characterised by the dimension "symbiotic near"; "ambivalent" and "indifferent" partnership relationships were found much more frequently in the controls. The idiographic results contribute to a differentiation of the spectrum of affective disorders. They underline the importance of the interpersonal dimension of depression and may be used as a basis of a therapeutic orientation.

[Reconstruction of mutism. Studies of subjective experiences of former patients with the modified Landfield categories]. / Die Rekonstruktion der Sprachlosigkeit. Untersuchungen des subjektiven Erlebens ehemals katatoner PatientInnen mittels modifizierter Landfield-Kategorien.

OBJECTIVE: The subjective experience of catatonic patients was investigated with the repertory grid-technique after recovery from the acute state of disease and compared with non-catatonic schizoaffective and depressive patients. METHODS: The sample consists of 18 catatonic patients, 22 schizoaffective, 16 unipolar depressive, 8 unipolar manic and 23 patients with bipolar affective disorder as well as of 32 psychiatrically healthy orthopaedic controls. Interviews were held well before discharge. The contents of personal constructs was analyzed by means of modified Landfield categories. RESULTS: "Self" of catatonic patients did not differ significantly from the other groups. The "Idealself" of catatonic patients differed significantly in the categories "high self esteem" (from the controls and the non-catatonic group) and "high empathy" (from the controls). The "disease-self" ("In the acute catatonic state") was construed as isolated (lack of social contact). The results underline the importance of an active therapeutical interaction in the acute catatonic state. The modified Landfield Categories proved to be a useful psychodiagnostic instrument for the idiographic assessment of personality in particular, and for psychiatric therapy research in general.