Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T04:59:23.649Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Some psychological concomitants of chronic bronchitis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Brenda M. Rutter*
Affiliation:
Oxford Rehabilitation Research Unit, Nuffield Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Oxford
*
1Address for correspondence: Brenda M. Rutter, Department of psychology, Walsgrave Hospitla, Coventry.

Synopsis

Thirty chronic bronchitic patients with severe airways obstruction were individually matched with non-bronchitic controls from the general population. The 2 groups were compared using the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) to assess non-psychotic psychiatric disturbance, the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) to assess personality traits, and the Marlowe–Crowne (M–C) scale plus the L (Lie) scale of the EPI to assess social-desirability response set. Chronic bronchitic patients were both more psychiatrically disturbed and more neurotic in personality than were their matched controls; but there were no differences between the 2 groups on the personality trait of extraversion or on measure of social desirability response set. The results are discussed in the context of both chronic bronchitis specifically and chronic illness in general, and future investigations are proposed.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abram, H. S. (1972). The psychology of chronic illness. Journal of Chronic Diseases 25, 659664.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Anshin, R. N. (1962). Emotional problems of the chronically ill. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 10, 447454.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bennett, A. E., Garrad, J. & Halil, T. (1970). Chronic disease and disability in the community: a prevalence study. British Medical Journal iii, 762764.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burns, B. H. & Howell, J. B. L. (1969). Disproportionately severe breathlessness in chronic bronchitis. Quarterly Journal of Medicine 38, 277294.Google ScholarPubMed
Clark, T. J. H. & Cochrane, G. M. (1970). Effects of personality on alveolar ventilation in patients with chronic airways obstruction. British Medical Journal i, 273275.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Croog, S. H., Levine, S. & Lurie, Z. (1968). The heart patient and the recovery process: a review of research on social and psychological factors. Social Science and Medicine 2, 111164.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crowne, D. P. & Marlowe, D. (1964). The Approval Motive: Studies in Evaluative Dependence. Wiley: New York.Google Scholar
DHSS (1974). On the State of the Public Health. The annual report of the chief medical officer of the DHSS for the year 1973. HMSO: London.Google Scholar
Eysenck, H. J. & Eysenck, S. B. G. (1964). Manual of the Eysenck Personality Inventory (E.P.I.). University of London Press: London.Google Scholar
Faulkner, M. A. L. (1969). The psychiatric status of patients with chronic bronchitis. M.Phil. (Psych.) dissertation. University of London.Google Scholar
Feldman, D. J. (1974). Chronic disabling illness: a holistic view. Journal of Chronic Diseases 27, 287291.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldberg, D. P. (1972). The Detection of Psychiatric Illness by Questionnaire. Maudsley Monograph no. 21. Oxford University Press: London.Google Scholar
Lipowski, Z. J. (1969). Psychosocial aspects of disease. Annals of Internal Medicine 71, 11971206.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McNemar, Q. (1969). Psychological Statistics, 4th edn.Wiley: London.Google Scholar
Moos, R. H. (1964). Personality factors associated with rheumatoid arthritis. A review. Journal of Chronic Diseases 17, 4155.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morgenstern, F. S. (1967). Chronic pain. D.M. thesis. University of Oxford.Google Scholar
Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (1970). Classification of Occupations. HMSO: London.Google Scholar
Oswald, N. C., Waller, R. E. & Drinkwater, J. (1970). Relationship between breathlessness and anxiety in asthma and bronchitis: a comparative study. British Medical Journal ii, 1417.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shepherd, M., Cooper, B., Brown, A. C. & Kalton, G. W. (1966). Psychiatric Illness in General Practice. Oxford University Press: London.Google Scholar
Siegel, S. (1956). Non-Parametric Statistics. McGraw-Hill: London.Google Scholar
Vernier, C. M., Barrell, R. P., Cummings, J. W., Dickerson, J. H. & Hooper, H. E. (1961). Psychosocial study of the patient with pulmonary tuberculosis: a co-operative research approach. Psychological Monographs General and Applied 75, 131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodforde, J. M. & Merskey, H. (1972). Personality traits of patients with chronic pain. Journal of Psychosomatic Research 16, 167172.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zung, W. W. K. (1965). A self-rating depression scale. Archives of General Psychiatry 12, 6370.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zung, W. W. K., Richards, C. B. & Short, M. J. (1965). Self-rating depression scale in an out-patient clinic: Further validation of the S.D.S. Archives of General Psychiatry 13, 508515.CrossRefGoogle Scholar