The Relationship of Emotional State to Coping Strategies and Personality Resources in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Relevance. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is one of the most acute and complex problems in modern gastroenterology, as it is a chronic recurrent disease with a severe course, diagnosed at a young age and requiring complex lifelong treatment. The disease has a negative impact on the quality of life and adaptation in patients with IBD, which may be significantly related to coping and personal resources, as well as the emotional state of patients.

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between psychological adjustment mechanisms (coping strategies and personal resources) and emotional state in patients with IBD.

Materials and methods. Thirty-one patients with IBD, 24 patients diagnosed with Crohn’s disease (K50) and 7 with ulcerative colitis (K51), of whom 18 (57.7 %) were men and 13 (42.3 %) women, mean age 29.66 ± 8.23 years, were studied. The following psychodiagnostic methods were used in the study: Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ), Big Five Inventory (BFI).

Results and discussion. The analysis of the emotional-affective sphere of IBD patients revealed the most frequent subdepressive manifestations and pronounced anxiety as a personality trait, in the structure of which “anxious evaluation of the prospect” dominates. The most preferred coping strategies are “seeking social support”, “taking responsibility” and “planning a solution to the problem”. The personality profile of the patients studied has a harmonious, balanced character with a slight predominance of introversion and self-organization traits. The most saturated with correlations with the indicators of emotional-affective sphere of patients with IBD is the coping strategy “escape- avoidance”. The strategy of escape from problem solving in order to optimize the emotional state is unconstructive. Patients with IBDs are able to view difficult life situations in a positive way, thus reducing the emotional stress and discomfort caused by the disease. As expected, when examining the relationship between personality traits and the emotional domain, the dominant correlation was found to be between the decrease in emotional stability of the personality and the manifestation of anxiety.

Conclusion. The obtained data are of practical importance for medical psychologists in formulating psychotherapeutic goals for this patient group and in clarifying the understanding of the factors that enhance the effectiveness of the treatment process. This can help improve the quality of life and optimize the emotional state of patients with IBD.

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