[Difficult asthma and gender of patients versus the presence of profound psychological trauma].

BACKGROUND

The authors examined psychiatrically a group of 97 patients suffering from severe asthma (classified according to GINA 2002). The special interest of the study was the careful analyse the time, context and content of different psychological traumas that the patients had throughout their lives.

METHODS

Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview, Polish version 5.0.0., Panic and Agoraphobia Scale, The Body Sensations Interpretation Questionnaire, Beck's Depression Inventory, Family Functioning Questionnaire (KOR), Antonovsky's Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC-29), Bond's Defence Style Questionnaire (DSQ-40) and Life Inventory were used.

RESULTS

The proportion of women in the group of 97 severe asthmatics was 75%, which is in compliance with literature. This fact is probably due to specific trauma of suffering and/or death of an emotionally close person, which occurred in 80% of the study group. This trauma may have direct impact on the intensity of anxious and depressive symptoms, catastrophic interpretation of bodily sensations, coherence, a more frequent use of immature defence style and impaired family functioning.

CONCLUSION

It is highly possible, that strictly psychological and psychiatric problems affect the severity of asthma more, than it was realised before.