The emotional-personal sphere of patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease

Abstract

The paper presents the results of a study of the characteristics of the emotional sphere in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), using the original computer program developed by the author. In a number of studies, human psychoemotional characteristics were very significant in the occurrence of nausea, vomiting, and heartburn in patients with GERD. Psychogenic disorders of esophageal motility are widespread. However, until recently, the psychological characteristics of this category of patients, especially young ones, remain insufficiently studied. To study the emotional and personality characteristics of patients with GERD in order to improve its diagnosis and to determine the directions of psychocorrectional and rehabilitation work. The study enrolled 68 patients with GERD and 68 clinically heathy volunteers. The computer program included the following scales: 1) the Scale of Conditions (Russian-language adaptation by A.B. Leonova, 1984); 2) the Scale of Differential Emotions (Russian-language adaptation by A.B. Leonova and M.S. Kapitsa, 2003); 3) the Chronic Fatigue Scale (modified b A.B. Leonova and I.V. Shishkina, 2003); and 4) the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to process empirical data. The results of an analysis of experimental and psychological examinations were used to assess the emotional characteristics of patients with GERD. These patients were found to experience subjective discomfort and to frequently feel bad (p≤0.01). There were obviously relatively stable individual experiences of the anxiety-depressive complex in the profile of emotions. The patients were anxious and prone to fear and guilt (p≤0.01). Psychophysiologically, the patients with GERD had overt symptoms of physiological discomfort, including signs of sleep-wake cycle disorders, poorer health status, and obvious cognitive discomfort, as well as emotional and affective disorders, lower motivation, and social communication changes (p≤0.01). The patients with GERD were characterized by psychoemotional tension (p≤0.01) and anxiety that is sufficiently stable and prolonged, by transforming into a personality trait that becomes a factor of its change (p≤0.01). The findings suggest that patients with GERD are characterized by a neurotic-like radical in the structure of personality and by a tendency to focus on their own somatic sensations and experiences. At the same time, the patients with GERD are commonly observed to have signs of obvious and severe chronic fatigue. There is more marked stress in the emotional sphere of these patients. Experimental and psychological examinations of the patient, by using this computer program, allow rehabilitation treatment and rehabilitation to be personified.