Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-hgkh8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T16:57:30.326Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Psychological aspects of rheumatoid arthritis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

B. M. Gardiner*
Affiliation:
Oxford Rehabilitation Research Unit, Nuffield Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Oxford
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr B. M. Gardiner, Department of Rheumatology, Westminster Hospital, Dean Ryle St, Horseferry Road, London SW1.

Synopsis

This study had 3 aims: to determine whether rheumatoid arthritics had certain personality traits; to examine the relationship between psychological factors and the presence of rheumatoid factor in blood serum; and to explore the prognostic significance of psychological factors in the management of rheumatoid arthritis. Within a few days of discharge, 129 in-patient rheumatoid arthritics were clinically and psychologically assessed and allocated at random to 1 of 3 forms of follow-up care. The psychological assessment included measures of personality, non-psychotic psychiatric disturbance, and attitudes and beliefs. A year later all patients were reassessed. It was found that rheumatoid arthritics were more neurotic in personality, more likely to give socially desirable responses, and more prone to psychiatric disturbance, than the general population. Seropositive patients were less susceptible to psychiatric disturbance than seronegative patients. None of the psychological variables predicted disease activity, but those patients who rated themselves as ‘slow, dependent, and weak’ lost more time off work in the subsequent year.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

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

Boureston, N. C. & Howard, M. T. (1965). Personality characteristics of three disability groups. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 46, 626631.Google Scholar
Camp, A. V. (1971). An articular index for the assessment of rheumatoid arthritis. Orthopaedics (Oxford) 4, 3945.Google Scholar
Crown, S. & Crown, J. M. (1973). Personality in early rheumatoid disease. Journal of Psychosomatic Research 17, 189197.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crown, S., Crown, J. & Fleming, A. (1975). Aspects of the psychology and epidemiology of rheumatoid disease. Psychological Medicine 5, 291299.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eysenck, H. J. & Eysenck, S. B. G. (1964). Manual of the Eysenck Personality Inventory. University of London Press: London.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D. P. (1972). The Detection of Psychiatric Illness by Questionnaire. Maudsley Monograph no. 21. Oxford University Press: London.Google Scholar
Jones, R. L. (1909). Arthritis Deformans. William Wood: New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowman, E. W., Miller, S., Lee, P. R., Stein, H., King, R. & Heald, L. (1954). Psychosocial factors in rehabilitation of the chronic rheumatoid arthritic. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases 13, 312316.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Osgood, C. E., Suci, G. J. & Tannenbaum, P. H. (1957). The Measurement of Meaning. University of Illinois Press: Urbana.Google Scholar
Polley, H. F., Swenson, W. M. & Steinhilber, R. M. (1970). Personality characteristics of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Psychosomatics 11, 4549.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rowe, A. J. (1969). Letter. British Medical Journal iv, 806807.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutter, B. M. (1977). Some psychological concomitants of chronic bronchitis. Psychological Medicine 7, 459464.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Solomon, G. F. (1970). Psychophysiological aspects of rheumatoid arthritis and auto-immune disease. In Modern Trends in Psychosomatic Medicine Volume 2 (ed. Hill, O. W.), pp. 189216. Appleton Century Crofts: New York.Google Scholar
Vignos, P. J., Thompson, H. M., Katz, S.. Maskowitz, R. W., Fink, S. & Svec, K. H. (1972). Comprehensive care and psychosocial factors in rehabilitation in chronic rheumatoid arthritis: a controlled study. Journal of Chronic Diseases 25, 457467.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ward, D. J. (1971). Rheumatoid arthritis and personality. British Medical Journal ii, 297299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolff, B. B. & Farr, R. S. (1964). Personality characteristics in rheumatoid arthritis. Arthritis and Rheumatism 7, 354.Google Scholar
Zung, W. W. K. (1965). A self-rating depression scale. Archives of General Psychiatry 12, 6370.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zung, W. W. K. (1971). Depression in the normal adult population. Psychosomatics 12, 164167.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed