The Hand in Psychological Diagnosis

Charlotte Wolff

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781138931954
• eBook ISBN: 9781317393207
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: History & Theory in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Originally published in 1951, this title looks at the study of the hand in relation to psychological diagnosis. This was at the time a new branch of psychology and the author is keen to point out it must not be viewed as perfect or indeed complete. Practical experience and a deeper understanding of psycho-motor phenomena had altered some of the author's theoretical views since the earlier titles. This book builds on and extends her previous research, including new research studies particularly on children who were at the time termed 'mentally defective'. It was designed to contribute some new diagnostic possibilities to psychology and psychiatry. Today we can enjoy it as part of psychology's history.

Chapter VIII
Hands of Children

A Comparative Study of Hands of Normal and Mentally Defective Children

General Aspect

IN the previous chapters on my clinical studies the material has been, as the term implies, exclusively pathological. In investigating the hands of abnormal people I had two ideas in mind:

1. To learn about those traits of the hand which are relevant for the diagnosis of psychological and mental illness; and
2. To find out how the experience and knowledge I had gained from studying the abnormal may be applied to the normal personality.

I have repeatedly emphasized in this book and in earlier writings that the frontier line between the healthy psycho-physical organism and the sick one is but narrow and that there are many paths which connect the lands of the sane and the insane.

This must be kept in mind while one compares possibilities of diagnosis in regard to the defective and to the fully developed personality. I prefer this expression to the word 'normal' as a normal person only exists (as I need hardly mention) in phantasy and not in reality. I have left to the last in these clinical studies and to the end of this book the application of my method of diagnosis to the hands of normally developed persons and for this I have chosen the adolescent, for reasons both theoretical and practical. For simplification and clarity my diagnostic estimates have been focused first of all on one particular aspect. This subject is new in psychological research and it seemed to me essential that it should seek information about one aspect of personality more tangible than the emotions—namely intelligence. There was then good reason for comparing the hands of normally intelligent children with those of mental defectives, to use a term which is misleading, for, as I have already stressed, it is the whole personality and not merely the mental equipment which is defective or insufficient in these children. This must not be forgotten, but the point of comparison here to be considered is the difference in intellectual capacity.

Apart from theoretical reasons my choice was dictated by practical considerations. First of all, I had been studying the hands of mental defectives, both children and adults, in a particularly large and significant number, and so had gained much experience of the physiognomy and physical traits of the hand connected with this condition. It seemed thus obvious that I should make use of this in a statistical comparative study of normal and abnormal cases. Secondly, I thought the possibility of an easy and reliable diagnostic estimate as to normal or defective intelligence of very great importance for reasons I also have mentioned earlier in this book, namely the possible misplacement of a normally intelligent child among subnormal children. The harm that can be done to such an individual is untold and terrifying. It need hardly be pointed out as it is so obvious. Thirdly, but of no less importance, to my mind, was the consideration that in any study of human beings that of the adolescent deserves a particular place, as it entails the study of potentialities far more poignantly than at any other phase of human existence. In the adolescent one finds an accumulation of constructive and destructive capacities and it is essential to help the growing child at the right time with the right guidance and the right freedom. The value of psychological studies of the adolescent mentality is not only an asset for the education and development of personality but it is also of important practical value to establish a diagnostic estimate of mentality and temperament, in order to be able to give vocational guidance safely to the young and to save mistakes and waste of time at the outset of some specific vocational training. It is a banality to say that talents are not by themselves sufficient to serve as indicators for a future profession; temperament and character must fit in with the demands of any profession and both vocation and personality must be considered carefully.

Here then were my reasons for comparing the hands of 120 normally intelligent and 120 mentally defective children with a view to their possible significance for diagnosis.

I have chosen to compare the hands of boys and girls in equal numbers. A certain number of mentally defective boys of this study was not of the group whose hands I described in the chapter 'The Hand of the Mental Defective'.

The age of the children ranged from 14 to 16 years. Fourteen of the normal girls were just under 14 years of age; they were particularly intelligent children who were in the same form with the older ones.

I was given the opportunity of studying the hands of children at several London schools and I am very grateful for the interest and help that I found there among both teachers and pupils.

The statistical results of this study are listed in four columns showing certain measurements in normal and mentally defective children and in three tables showing the numerical incidence of characteristic hand-traits on lines similar to those used in the previous investigation on mental patients.

In order to give the reader an idea of the kind of diagnosis which can be made in a minimum of time from hand-features and also in order to show how these diagnostic estimates compare with others, I have divided the contents of this chapter into two parts; the first one dealing with the general aspect of hand-diagnosis on account of the statistical results and the second one dealing with the individual aspect of hand-diagnosis. The second part contains a comparison between:

1. Hand diagnosis and psychiatric diagnosis in 25 cases of high-grade and difficult boys
2. Hand-diagnosis and estimates of several teachers on 19 normally intelligent girls.

My diagnostic estimates on the mentally defective boys are very short and only refer to essential characteristics of mentality and temperament. My statements on the 19 girls are more complex and contain more detailed observations.

Boys and girls of whose hands I have made these more detailed interpretations were mostly of the same age-groups as those whose hands I had investigated for the general and statistical study of this chapter.

I have treated the material at my disposal in the simplest possible way in order to enable the reader to recognize at a glance what the essential differences are between the hands of normal and mentally defective children. I thought it important for the more complete understanding of the constitutional make-up of the children concerned to list certain body-measurements in all cases: namely height and weight of each child together with the length and width of the hands.

I have differentiated two kinds of width:

W1 representing the width of the palm measured just underneath the fingers,

W2 representing the broadest part of the palm, which, as a rule, is represented by the distance between the radial and ulnar edge measured just above the insertion of the thumb.

All the mentally defective children investigated in this study are high-grade, which means that their I.Q. lies between 60 and 100. Six boys and 8 girls of this group a...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Original Title
• Original Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• INTRODUCTION
• I THE HAND AND INTELLIGENCE
• II THE ENDOCRINE FACTOR
• III THE HAND AND TEMPERAMENT
• IV THE HAND AND PERSONALITY
• V THE METHOD OF HAND-INTERPRETATION
• VI THE HAND OF THE MENTAL DEFECTIVE
• VII THE HAND IN MENTAL ILLNESS
• VIII HANDS OF CHILDREN A Comparative Study of Hands of Normal and of Mentally Defective Children
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• INDEX