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Some psychological concomitants of chronic bronchitis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Brenda M. Rutter*
Affiliation:
Oxford Rehabilitation Research Unit, Nuffield Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Oxford
*
1Address for correspondence: Brenda M. Rutter, Department of psychology, Walsgrave Hospitla, Coventry.

Synopsis

Thirty chronic bronchitic patients with severe airways obstruction were individually matched with non-bronchitic controls from the general population. The 2 groups were compared using the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) to assess non-psychotic psychiatric disturbance, the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) to assess personality traits, and the Marlowe–Crowne (M–C) scale plus the L (Lie) scale of the EPI to assess social-desirability response set. Chronic bronchitic patients were both more psychiatrically disturbed and more neurotic in personality than were their matched controls; but there were no differences between the 2 groups on the personality trait of extraversion or on measure of social desirability response set. The results are discussed in the context of both chronic bronchitis specifically and chronic illness in general, and future investigations are proposed.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

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