Relación entre impulsividad, inflexibilidad psicológica y síntomas de psicopatología en pacientes con dependencia de nicotina

Abstract

Introduction: high levels of impulsivity and psychological inflexibility characterize nicotine dependent subjects and some psychopathology symptoms are also related to the tobacco consumption but it is unknown if there is a relationship between these. Objective: to evaluate the correlation of impulsivity with psychological inflexibility, and symptoms of psychopathology in nicotine dependent subjects. Method: an observational study was carried out, the universe of which was 24 patients who attended the smoking clinic of the State Center for Mental Health of Puebla for the first time (January-March 2020). The instruments were applied: the Fagerström test to measure nicotine dependence, the Barratt impulsivity scale, the Acceptance and Action questionnaire to measure the inflexibility score and the symptom list, to identify psychopathology symptoms. Correlations were made with the Spearman test. Results: in nicotine dependence subjects (moderate and severe) no correlation was found between impulsivity and psychological inflexibility. There was a moderate correlation of impulsivity with anxiety (rs = .467, p () .05), somatization (rs = .451, p () .05) and hostility (rs = .426, p () .05). None of the psychopathology symptoms correlated with psychological inflexibility. The comparison between high and low impulsivity and psychological inflexibility showed that the high impulsivity and low inflexibility groups had high scores for psychopathology symptoms. Only the anxiety scale marked significant differences according to the level of impulsivity. Discussion and conclusions: in the subjects of the sample the correlations between impulsivity and symptoms of anxiety somatization and hostility suggest identifying these characteristics early to improve abstinence rates in them.