Symptom attribution to a medically unexplained syndrome is associated with greater perceived severity and bothersomeness of symptoms in US military veterans.

OBJECTIVE: Medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) are prevalent among veteran and non-veteran populations. Current biopsychosocial theory implicates a multitude of factors in MUS development and perpetuation. The current study tests whether physical symptom attribution to MUS is associated with perceived symptom severity and bothersomeness and thereby might function to perpetuate MUS, as suggested by existing theory. DESIGN AND MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Military combat veterans (n = 243) answered postal-mail questions about their physical symptoms, severity of experienced symptoms, and attributions of these symptoms to MUS (e.g. Gulf War Illness) versus non-MUS conditions. RESULTS: Independent t-tests showed support for the first hypothesis-that those who experience the symptom and attribute it to MUS will perceive it to be more severe and bothersome than those who experience the symptom but do not attribute it to MUS. Paired-sample t-tests showed support for the second hypothesis-that experienced symptoms attributed to MUS by an individual will be perceived as more severe and bothersome than experienced symptoms the individual does not attribute to MUS. CONCLUSIONS: Results highlight a potential role of symptom attribution in MUS perpetuation, through greater perceived severity and bothersomeness of MUS-attributed symptoms. Possible intervention targets may include behavior ramifications, such as coping strategies; more research is needed.

Automatic processes and self-regulation of illness.

Research on the Commonsense Self-Regulation Model has emphasised reflective/conscious perceptual processes regarding illness threat (beliefs about symptoms, consequences, timeline, and curability) in predicting and changing coping behaviours. Understanding of illness self-regulation and avenues for intervention might be enriched by consideration of automatic processes that influence the recognition and identification of illness, response to illness, and ongoing management. This article adopts an integrative approach to (1) outline the theoretical importance of implicit processes in patients' self-regulation of illness and methods to study them; (2) review research evidence for these processes, including interventions tested to modify them; and (3) outline avenues for future research. A substantial body of research on implicit processes (cognitive bias and interpretational bias) in illness maintenance in chronic illness has recently been extended to detection and interpretation of acute illness and new perspectives relating to the self-system. There is encouraging evidence that cognitive accessibility of coping and implicit attitudes may impact upon coping behaviours. Procedures that strategically automatise coping responses and create habits have considerable promise. We outline an agenda for future research in which health psychology accepts the challenge posed by the interplay of the reflective and associative systems in promoting effective self-regulation of illness.

Assessing theoretical predictors of long-term medication adherence: patients' treatment-related beliefs, experiential feedback and habit development.

Patient non-adherence to medication is a pervasive problem that contributes to poor patient health and high healthcare costs. Basic research and interventions have focused thus far on behaviour initiation factors, such as patients' illness and treatment beliefs. This paper proposes two processes that occur after behaviour initiation that are theorised to contribute to prediction of long-term medication adherence: 'coherence' of patients' beliefs from experiences with treatment and habit development. Seventy-one hypertensive patients reported their treatment-related beliefs, experiences related to treatment efficacy and medication-taking habit strength in a baseline interview. Patients then used an electronic monitoring pill bottle for approximately one month. Patients' medication habit-strength was the strongest predictor of all adherence measures, explaining 6-27% incremental variance in adherence to that explained by patients' treatment-related beliefs. Patients' beliefs and experiences did not predict overall adherence, even for patients with 'weaker' habits. However, patients' experiences were found to predict intentional non-adherence and habit strength was found to predict unintentional adherence. Practitioners may assess patients' medication-taking habits to get an initial view of their likely adherence to long-term medications. Future research should assess the current theoretical predictions in a hypertension inception sample and in populations with symptomatic conditions.