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Illness behaviour in neurological inpatients with psychiatric morbidity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

Lefteris Lykouras ,
Maria Vassiliadou ,
Dora Adrachta ,
Argyro Voulgari ,
Nikos Kalfakis  and
Constantine R. Soldatos
Lefteris Lykouras*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Athens University Medical School, “Eginition” Hospital, Athens, Greece First Department of General Hospital Psychiatry, Athens University Medical School, “Attikon” Hospital, 1, Rimini Street, 124 10Athens, Greece
Maria Vassiliadou
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Athens University Medical School, “Eginition” Hospital, Athens, Greece
Dora Adrachta
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Athens University Medical School, “Eginition” Hospital, Athens, Greece
Argyro Voulgari
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Athens University Medical School, “Eginition” Hospital, Athens, Greece
Nikos Kalfakis
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Athens University Medical School, “Eginition” Hospital, Athens, Greece
Constantine R. Soldatos
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Athens University Medical School, “Eginition” Hospital, Athens, Greece First Department of General Hospital Psychiatry, Athens University Medical School, “Attikon” Hospital, 1, Rimini Street, 124 10Athens, Greece
*
⁎Corresponding author. Fax: +30 210 532 6416. E-mail address: elykoura@med.uoa.gr (L. Lykouras).
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Abstract

Objective.

The aim of the present study was to examine whether psychiatric morbidity can influence the type of illness behaviour of neurological inpatients.

Methods.

For this purpose, we compared neurological inpatients with and without psychiatric disorders (DSM-IIIR criteria) for the seven scales of Illness Behaviour Questionnaire (IBQ) and searched for possible differences between the two patient subgroups.

Results.

Of the 105 neurological inpatients who participated in the study, 54 (51.4%) were diagnosed as having some type of psychiatric disorder. These patients scored significantly higher than patients without psychiatric morbidity in the scale of Irritability. A suggestive trend for higher scores in the scales of Hypochondriasis, Disease Conviction, and Affective Disturbance, and significantly lower score in the scale of Denial, in patients with psychiatric morbidity, were also found.

Conclusion.

The present study has shown that neurological inpatients with psychiatric morbidity tend to develop more intense illness behaviour than those without. The effect of psychiatric morbidity on certain components of illness behaviour in neurological patients can be taken into account when therapeutic strategies are planned.

Keywords

Illness behaviourPsychiatric morbidityNeurological disorders
Type
Original articles
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 21 , Issue 3 , April 2006 , pp. 200 - 203
Copyright
Copyright © European Psychiatric Association 2006

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