Psychoanalytic theory suggests that orality and being female are positively related to adopting a help-seeking stance in the world. This may result in inflated scores on self-report psychological tests. These hypotheses were investigated using Rorschach-based, oral-dependence scores (Masling, 1986), the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) help-seeking F minus K index (Gough, 1950; Meehl, 1951), and the MMPI clinical and supplementary scales. High orals are found to be more likely than low orals to adopt a help-seeking response set which in turn results in inflated scores on a number of MMPI clinical scales. Contrary to stereotypes, women are no more likely than men to be help seeking or oral dependent. Several other significant findings, including that orality is positively related to MMPI Scale 2 (Depression) scores for women, not men, are also discussed.

Electrodermal responses in male subjects who gave at least four oral-dependent Rorschach responses (n = 15) or no more than two such responses (n = 19) were assessed both before and after the subjects had either a warm, friendly interaction or a cold, unfriendly interaction with a confederate. There were no group differences on initial baseline measurements. Following a 10-minute warm or cold interaction, there was significant three-way interaction (Period X Condition X Orality) in tonic conductance, p less than .003. Analysis of the three-way interaction produced one simple effect: Highly oral subjects responded differentially to warm or cold treatment by the confederate, p less than .018. Three groups--nonorals in either condition and orals in the condition--increased in physiological arousal over time. Only the highly oral subjects interacting with the warm confederate showed no such increase in arousal, presumably because the presence of a warm, interested other inhibits physiological activation.

Psychoanalytic theory and previous research on oral dependence both suggest that an oral-dependent character style is associated with increased risk for depression. The present study examined the relationship of orality to three separate measures of depression in a sample of 40 psychiatric inpatients (20 males and 20 females). A significant, positive relationship was found between level of orality and depression scores for male patients but not for females. These findings are discussed in the context of traditional psychoanalytic theory, object relations theory, and previous research in these areas. Suggestions for future studies are offered.Object relations theory suggests that a person's characteristic thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are formed at least partly in response to childhood experiences with parents and other significant figures (Mahler, 1967;Spitz, 1965). These early relationships are hypothesized to be introjected or in ternalized and become the schemata by which subsequent relationships are interpreted (Bornstein, Galley, Si Leone, 1986). While earlier psychoanalytic theorists did not use object relations terminology to discuss the importance of the infantcaretaker relationship for later life, clearly they too felt it was central in personality development. For example, Freud (1905Freud ( /1953 sug gested that infantcaretaker interactions were of paramount importance, with the relationships experienced during the "oral" period setting the stage for all that followed. In this context, Freud hypothesized that "a child sucking at his mother's breast becomes the prototype of every relation of love. The finding of an object is in fact a refinding of it" (p. 222). This early activity of "finding" the caretaker (and the breast or bottle) becomes associ ated with the oral pleasures of receiving both food and tender physical contact. Thus the act of nursing comes to represent the love and protection of the primary caretaker (Fenichel, 1945). Freud (1905Freud ( /1953 and his followers hypothesized that an infant who is overly frustrated by the caretaker during this critical period will become "orally fixated." Fenichel (1945, p. 387) goes on to suggest that such oral

One hundred fifty-two psychiatric inpatients (91 women and 61 men) completed widely used objective (i.e., self-report) and projective measures of interpersonal dependency; scores on these measures were compared to two indices of suicidality derived from patients' chart records (i.e., number of past suicide attempts and physician judgments of suicidality at admission). High objective dependency scores were associated with high suicidality scores in women and men, even when level of depression was controlled for statistically. Projective dependency scores were unrelated to both suicidality indices.

To examine the relationship between interpersonal dependency and medical service use in a hospital setting, the number of medical consultations and psychotropic medication prescriptions were compared in matched, mixed-sex samples of 40 dependent and 40 nondependent psychiatric inpatients. Results indicated that dependent patients received more medical consultations and a greater number of medications than did nondependent patients with similar demographic and diagnostic profiles. Implications of these results for theoretical models of interpersonal dependency and for previous research on the dependency-help-seeking relationship are discussed. Practical implications of these findings for work with dependent patients are summarized.