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Abstract

The intention of the study is the empirical differentiation between "mature" and "immature" (borderline-) hysterics. 366 inpatients of the Department of Psychoso-matic Medicine of the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim (university of Heidelberg) were diagnosed with regard to the existence of hysterical personality traits. 146 patients shared the criteria of the DOPSY-system for hysteria. This group was divided by assistance of the Bordcrlinc-Syndromc-Index (BSI) into a subgroup of n = 79 "mature" and a subgroup of n=67 "immature" Borderline hysterics. The distri-bution was validated by the Freiburger Personality inventure (FPI). Both groups are similar referring to age, gender and schooleducation. On the level of symptomatology we found the same feature of diagnoses in the area F40-45 in the ICD-10. Two third of the patients with hysterical personality traits have got an additional classification of personality disorder, but only 48% in the group of mature hysterics and 37% in the group of immature hysterics were classified by experienced psychoanalysists as his-trionic personality disorder (F60.4, ICD-10). With respect to risk factors in the life history we found that mature hysterics much more often were characterized by a loss of father in the first three years and the position of the eldest (and sometimes only) child. The results pointed to distinct developmental lines, which suggest, that the two hysterical groups can be differentiated by the style of coping and defense.