Quality of life and emotional functioning in selected psychosomatic diseases

Disease and its treatment may affect a patient not only in the physical, but also in the psychological and social spheres. Quality of life (QOL) is a global concept which should include mental and social actions, physical activities, and the beneficial aspects of a good physical and mental condition as well as negative ones caused by disease and infirmity. The aim of this study was to assess the relationships between emotional functioning and QOL among people diagnosed with coronary disease, hypertension, or gastric and/or duodenal ulcer.

A group of 180 male patients hospitalized during 1999-2002 at the Military Medical Academy Hospital in Łódź was subjected to examinations. The Emotional Control Questionnaire by Brzeziński was applied together with the SF-36 Quality of Life Test. The psychometric techniques used in the examinations allowed determining statistically significant relationships between QOL level and emotional excitability, emotional expression control, and situation control.

1) The QOL level of the psychosomatic patients was essentially lower compared with that of healthy people. 2) QOL was strictly related to the emotional functioning of the subjects. 3) There was no essential diversity in the range of emotional functioning among the patients. 4) QOL of the patients suffering from gastric ulcer was on average a little higher than that of patients with coronary disease.