DEPRESSION AND GUILT - A STUDY AT AN ARAB PSYCHIATRIC CLINIC

Of 157 depressed patients seen at Kasr-El-Aini psychiatric clinic, Cairo, 97 (62.8%) had guilt feelings. Comparison of depressed patients who had guilt feelings to those who had no guilt feelings revealed an association of the former with an over-representation of the literate and psychotic patients. Guilty patients had longer depressive histories with an early age of onset, and in females history of death of one or both parents before the age of 15 years was more frequently encountered. Guilty patients often projected responsibility for the distress and consequences of depression on to God and other people at the same time as experiencing guilt. However, projection on to God was less common among guilty patients than others, and the greater the intensity of experienced guilt the less the proportion of patients who resorted to projection on to God. This study does not confirm earlier reports suggesting the rarity of guilt and self-reproach in African, Arab and non-Christian depressives. © 1969 Springer-Verlag.