Ménière's disease: trauma, distress and adaptation studied through focus interview analyses.

In order to investigate, in depth, the role of psychological factors in Ménière's disease, i.e. how the patients experience and interpret their symptoms during the process of this illness, a qualitative method "focus group interviews" was used as a study design. The focus group included four subjects; one woman and three men. In addition, semi-structured interviews were performed with each of four more subjects having the disease, three women and one man, in order to guarantee representativity in terms of gender and age. Through the focus interview analyses eight final codes and a number of sub-codes were developed. Results clearly pointed out the significance of the first traumatic attack of the disease as well as early signs; different "psychosomatic" symptoms prior to the attacks. The recognition of fear and phobic reactions in the manifestation of the vertigo attack was considered as an important observation, as attacks often were triggered by distressing thoughts as well as by sensory sensations. Other areas, touched upon for future investigation, were crisis adaptation and illness function.