The psychological states of patients with diabetes mellitus were compared with those of patients suffering from other chronic diseases and people with no diagnosed chronic diseases. These states were assessed by applying content analysis scales to transcripts of their descriptions of their current experiences. Analyses of the diabetics' scale scores re vealed a pattern characterized by much anxiety, depression, anger expressed both direct ly and indirectly, together with feelings of helplessness. The sources of anxiety which proved to be of most importance to them were fears of death and bodily mutilation, as weIl as guilt and shame. They experienced little sense of sharing with most people around them, although they showed considerable enjoyment of dose relationships with family and friends. This pattern of psychological states did not vary with the sex of the patients or whether they were interviewed in a hospital or at horne nor with recency of onset or multiplicity of health problems. It was similar to the pattern of patients with other chronic diseases but differed significantly from that of the healthy group. Acknowledgment The authors wish to acknowledge the contribution ofCarol Preston to the collection and analysis of these data which were made available, inpart, by patients of the Wollongong Hospital and members of the Illawarra Branch of the Diabetic Association of N ew South Wales. References 1. Strong JA, Baird JD (1971) Diseases ofthe endocrine system. In: Davidson S, McLeod J (eds) The principles and practice of medicine.

1 Content Analysis: Overview of a Measurement Method

Theoretical Issues and Modern Historical Development
2 Behavioral Text and Psychological Context: On Pragmatic Verbal Behavior Analysis
3 Research Using the Gottschalk-Gleser Content Analysis Scales in English Since 1969
4 Studies Proving the Validity of the Gottschalk-Gleser Content Analysis Scales in German-Speaking Countries
5 Assessment of Psychological States Through Content Analysis of Verbal Communications
Recent Procedural and Technical Contributions
6 An Interpersonal Measure of Hostility Based on Speech Context
7 Microcomputers as Aids to Avoid Error in Gottschalk-Gleser Rating
8 A Depression Scale Applicable to Verbal Samples
9 Content Analysis of Verbal Behavior in Psychotherapy Research: A Comparison Between Two Methods
Some Applications of Verbal Behavior Analysis to the Clinical Sciences
10 Use of the Gottschalk-Gleser Verbal Content Analysis Scales with Medically Ill Patients
11 Affective Content of Speech and Treatment of Outcome in Bruxism
12 Psychological States in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus
13 Emotional Impact of Mastectomy
14 Some Sources of Alienation for Drug Addicts
15 Content Analysis of Speech of Schizophrenic and Control Adoptees and Their Relatives: Preliminary Results
16 Alexithymia and Affective Verbal Behavior of Psychosomatic Patients and Controls
17 Expression of Positive Emotion by People Who Are Physically Ill: Is It Evidence of Defending or Coping?
18 Affective Content of Speech as a Predictor of Psychotherapy Outcome
19 Aggressiveness in Psychotherapy and Its Relationship with the Patient's Change: An Adaptation of the Gottschalk-Gleser Hostility Scales to the Portuguese Language
20 A Preliminary Report on Antidepressant Therapyand Its Effect on Hope and Immunity
21 The Pharmacokinetics of Some Psychoactive Drugs and Relationships to Clinical Response
Author Index.