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- Title
Ego defense mechanisms in COPD: impact on health-related quality of life and dyspnoea severity.
- Authors
Albuquerque, Saulo; Carvalho, Eduardo; Lopes, Rebeka; Marques, Higor; Macêdo, Danielle; Pereira, Eanes; Hyphantis, Thomas; Carvalho, Andre
- Abstract
Purpose: To assess chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) patients' defensive profile compared with healthy participants and to test whether specific ego defense mechanisms are associated with health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and self-reported dyspnoea severity. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, we assessed, in 80 patients with COPD and 80 age- and gender-matched healthy participants, psychological distress (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) and defense mechanisms/styles (Defense Style Questionnaire). Patients had their HRQoL evaluated with the St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire and underwent a comprehensive clinical evaluation with determination of functional parameters and dyspnoea severity. Results: COPD patients presented higher scores in undoing, acting out, autistic fantasy, denial, and splitting defenses compared with healthy controls. Overall, patients showed a more immature ( P = 0.001) and/or neurotic ( P = 0.006) defensive profile. Higher scores of denial ( P = 0.044), somatization ( P = 0.009), and undoing ( P = 0.032) defenses were associated with poorer HRQoL, independently of the anticipated significant associations of clinical and psychological distress variables with impaired HRQoL. Somatization was strongly independently associated with more severe self-reported dyspnoea. Conclusions: COPD patients exhibit a relatively immature and neurotic defensive profile. Clinicians and consultation-liaison psychiatrists should consider the patients' underlying personality structure, especially somatization tendencies, since it is independently associated with HRQoL and dyspnoea severity.
- Subjects
OBSTRUCTIVE lung diseases patients; CONSULTATION-liaison psychiatry; QUALITY of life; DYSPNEA; QUESTIONNAIRES; EGO (Psychology); CROSS-sectional method; PSYCHOLOGICAL distress; PERSONALITY; PSYCHIATRIC rating scales
- Publication
Quality of Life Research, 2011, Vol 20, Issue 9, p1401
- ISSN
0962-9343
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s11136-011-9884-9