Gender gap in psychogenic factors may affect perception of asthma symptoms.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Clinical practice suggests that asthma coping strategies might be different in women and men. The aim of this study was to compare the relationship between psychological variables and the perception of asthma symptoms in women and men. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 165 adult asthma patients with mild to severe persistent asthma were studied. We performed spirometric tests, measured dyspnea on the Borg scale, assessed psychological health using the Goldberg 28-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28), and measured the tendency towards social desirability using the lie scale from the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. RESULTS: Women had significantly worse results than men on the GHQ somatic symptoms and anxiety/insomnia subscales and on the overall scale that measures the general index of perceived health. Sex was a statistically significant moderator on the correlation between dyspnea and both the tendency to lie and the GHQ-28 functional disorders/social dysfunction subscale. The correlation between dyspnea and the tendency to lie was positive in women and negative in men. CONCLUSIONS: Perceived dyspnea is correlated with psychological health and the tendency to lie and the correlation between perceived dyspnea and certain psychological variables is different in women and men.

Dyspnea is related to family functioning in adult asthmatics.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to assess links between family relationships and severity of dyspnea identified in asthmatic adults. MATERIALS: A total of 131 consecutive, non-selected patients with asthma participated in the study: 88 women (67.18%) and 43 men (32.82%). The mean age of the studied patients was 49.87 years, SD = 13.73. The majority of the study population consisted of patients with grade II (37.74%) and IV (34.91%) of the disease in terms of severity (according to the GINA classification, 2006). STUDY PROTOCOL: All patients underwent functional respiratory tests. The subjective severity of dyspnea was assessed according to the ten-tier Borg scale. To evaluate family functioning values, the Family Assessment Questionnaire (FAQ) was used. Spouses of the asthmatic patients also completed questionnaires. RESULTS: A significant relationship was identified between the values of the dimension: affective expression (assessment of the family performed by the asthmatic patient) and the severity of dyspnea (p = 0.03, r = -0.24) as well as between values of the dimensions: affective expression and affective involvement (as assessed by the spouse of the patient) and severity of dyspnea (p = 0.01, r = 0.39; p = 0.02, r = 0.34, respectively). The relationship between the severity of dyspnea declared by the patient and the FAQ dimension: Task accomplishment (as assessed by the spouse of the patient) was borderline (statistical significance [p = 0.06]). CONCLUSIONS: (1) A relationship can be observed between the functioning of the asthmatic patient's family and the severity of the patient's declared dyspnea. Dyspnea constitutes a specific form of emotional communication in the inter-spouse relationships. (2) An analysis of the severity of dyspnea in asthmatic patients should take into account the context of the functioning of the patient's family.

[To disclose or not to disclose the diagnosis of schizophrenia? A social constructionist approach]. / Ujawniac czy nie ujawniac pacjentowi i jego rodzinie diagnozy schizofrenii? Perspektywa konstrukcjonizmu spolecznego.

From a social constructionist perspective the author considers the advantages and disadvantages of using the word schizophrenia when talking with the patient and the family.

[Psychotic realization of the "myth of return": a case study involving delusional misidentification]. / Psychotyczna realizacja "mitu powrotu do ojczyzny": studium przypadku urojeniowego, blednego rozpoznawania osób.

Case study of a Polish man who for many years was treated in hospitals in Great Britain, whose psychopathology forms at the same time a psychotic return to the fatherland.