Psychological variables in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and Graves-Basedow disease

Psychological factors through their impact on assessment of difficult life situations and model of coping with stress can provoke pathophysiological reactions triggering development of autoimmunological disorders. In the paper we tried to distinguish psychological variables typical for patients with rheumatoid arthritis and Graves-Basedow disease. Three groups were investigated (n=90) and divided according to age and sex: patients with rheumatoid arthritis, patients with Graves-Basedow disease and healthy people with positive family history of autoimmunological disorders. The following tests were used: Life Orientation Test (LOT-R); Sense of Coherence Questionnaire (SOC-29); Formal Characteristics of Behaviour: Temperament Inventory (FCB-TI); Eysenck Personality Questionnaire – Revised (EPQ-R). We found statistically significant differences between patients and the control group due to the following variables: optimism, meaningfulness, activity, briskness, and endurance (they were statistically lower in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and Graves-Basedow disease), emotional reactivity and neuroticism (statistically higher in both groups of patients). Also, small differences between ill and healthy people were observed due to manageability, comprehensibility (statistically lower in both groups of patients) and perseveration (statistically higher in both groups of patients). There were no differences in these variables between both groups and patients. The results seem to support the hypothesis about the role of specific psychological factors for patients with autoimmunological disorders. However, taking into consideration the multifactor aetiopathogenesis of these disorders, our results should be verified in future investigations.