Life events, abnormal illness behavior, and appendectomy.

ABSTRACT

Few studies have examined the role of stress and emotional disturbance in appendectomy patients. This paper explores the life events and illness behavior in such patients, in whom histologic signs of acute phlogosis were usually absent. 25 female appendectomy patients were compared to 25 depressed and 25 normal subjects, matched for age, sex, marital status, and social class. Life events were examined by means of Paykel and Mangen's Interview for Recent Life Events. No significant differences between the appendectomy and the depressed patients were found. However, both groups displayed more loss, socially undesirable events, and uncontrollable events than the nonpatients. The illness behavior profile, as measured by Pilowsky and Spence's IBQ, revealed that the appendectomy patients were more convinced of being ill and had less emotional disturbance than the depressed patients. These findings suggest that the appendectomy may mediate a psychologic disturbance characterized by a negation of psychologic problems, a reduced expression of emotional disturbances, and displacement toward somatic symptoms.