Tag: neuroticism

Risk Factors for Severe ME/CFS

Abstract:

ME/CFS is a serious illness affecting several hundred thousand British people. Some 25% of people with ME/CFS may be severely ill (housebound or bedbound), sometimes for decades. This observational, questionnaire-based study was designed to identify risk factors for severe disease. Exposure to potential risk factors, including familial risks, personality, and early management of the illness, was compared in 124 people with severe disease and 619 mildly ill controls. Severity was determined by self-report and the Barthel (activities of daily living) Index.

Premorbid personality was assessed using the Neuroticism and Conscientiousness domains of the IPIP scale. Analysis was by tests of association and logistic regression. Early management of the illness appeared the most important determinant of severity. Having a mother with ME/CFS was also important. Smoking and personality were not risk factors, neurotic traits being more frequent among the less severely ill. Conscientiousness overall was not related to severity.

Source: Derek Pheby, Lisa Saffron. Risk Factors for Severe ME/CFS. Biology and Medicine, Vol 1 (4): 50-74, 2009. https://meassociation.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Biology-and-Medicine_Published-paper_vol1_4_50-74.pdf  (Full text)

Cognitive behavior therapy in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome: the role of illness acceptance and neuroticism

Abstract:

OBJECTIVE: Increasing the quality of life (QoL) of patients with chronic fatigue is challenging because recovery is seldom achieved. Therefore, it is important to identify processes that improve QoL. This study examined the extent of improvement related to cognitive behavior group therapy (CBT), and whether improvement is affected by initial levels of acceptance and neuroticism.

METHODS: Eighty CFS patients followed CBT, and self-reported (pre-post design) on mental and physical QoL (MQoL and PQoL), fatigue, acceptance, and neuroticism. The extent of improvement was analyzed using t-tests, effect sizes, and clinically significant change criteria. Whether acceptance and neuroticism at baseline predicted changes was analyzed by means of correlation and regression analyses.

RESULTS: Significant improvement was found for all variables. The effect size for MQoL and PQoL was small; for acceptance and fatigue, effect size was moderate. About 20% (MQoL) to 40% (fatigue) of the participants clinically improved. Pre-treatment level of acceptance was negatively correlated with changes in MQoL, not with PQoL changes. Neuroticism pre-treatment was positively related with MQoL changes. Regression analysis showed an effect of acceptance on changes in MQoL beyond the effect of neuroticism.

CONCLUSIONS: Although CBT is an evidence-based treatment, the sizes of the effects are often small regarding QoL. Our study also revealed small effect sizes. Our study showed that patient characteristics at baseline were significantly associated with MQoL outcome; indicating that CFS patients with high neuroticism or with a low acceptance show more improvement in MQoL. We propose to specifically target acceptance and neuroticism before treatment in order to maximize clinical relevance.

Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

 

Source: Poppe C, Petrovic M, Vogelaers D, Crombez G. Cognitive behavior therapy in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome: the role of illness acceptance and neuroticism. J Psychosom Res. 2013 May;74(5):367-72. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2013.02.011. Epub 2013 Mar 25. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23597322

 

Mental quality of life in chronic fatigue is associated with an accommodative coping style and neuroticism: a path analysis

Abstract:

PURPOSE: An accommodative coping style (e.g. acceptance) is related to a better mental health-related quality of life (MHQL) in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). We want to explore whether neuroticism is predictive for this coping style and MHQL. Secondly we want to explore the relation between acceptance and physical health-related quality of life (PHQL) and expect that illness-related variables such as fatigue severity and duration are related to PHQL.

METHOD: In this cross-sectional study, 117 patients with chronic fatigue syndrome from an outpatient internal medicine clinic completed self-report questionnaires on quality of life (SF-36), acceptance (ICQ), personality traits (NEO-FFI) and fatigue severity (CIS).

RESULTS: Regression analyses showed that neuroticism and acceptance are predictors of MHQL (38% of the variance was explained). The path analysis showed that acceptance mediates between neuroticism and MHQL and that PHQL is related to MHQL. PHQL is related to fatigue severity and duration, but not to neuroticism and acceptance.

CONCLUSION: Stimulating an ‘accepting accommodative coping style’ within the treatment for CFS is important in improving mental quality of life. Our results suggest that neuroticism may be negatively related to acceptance and MHQL. This findings support the idea that a psychological diagnostic workout with special attention to personality traits in relation to their coping style is recommended in order to choose the most appropriate therapeutic approach in this population.

 

Source: Poppe C, Crombez G, Hanoulle I, Vogelaers D, Petrovic M. Mental quality of life in chronic fatigue is associated with an accommodative coping style and neuroticism: a path analysis. Qual Life Res. 2012 Oct;21(8):1337-45. doi: 10.1007/s11136-011-0048-8. Epub 2011 Oct 29. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22038396

 

Correlates of illness worry in chronic fatigue syndrome

Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Anxiety about illness leading to restriction of activity and physical deconditioning has been hypothesized to contribute to the chronicity of fatigue. Pathological symptom attributions, personality traits, and depression have all been hypothesized to contribute to illness worry.

METHODS: We compared 45 chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and 40 multiple sclerosis (MS) outpatients using a battery of psychometric instruments comprising the 12-item Illness Worry scale, the Symptom Interpretation Questionnaire (SIQ), the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), and a modified version of the SCL-90R Depression scale.

RESULTS: There was no difference between the two diagnostic groups on neuroticism, depressive symptoms, as well as the three scales of the SIQ. On the illness worry index, the CFS group had significantly higher scores than the MS group. This difference was due to items tapping vulnerability to illness and the perception that others are not taking their illness seriously. Somatic attributional style, neuroticism, depressive symptoms, and age were all significant predictors of illness worry in both CFS and MS patients.

CONCLUSIONS: Somatic attributions, neuroticism, and depression all contribute to illness worry in chronic illness. However, these factors do not account for the higher levels of illness worry in CFS as opposed to MS, which may be due to other specific cognitive and social interactional processes.

 

Source: Taillefer SS, Kirmayer LJ, Robbins JM, Lasry JC. Correlates of illness worry in chronic fatigue syndrome.  J Psychosom Res. 2003 Apr;54(4):331-7. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12670610

 

Personality and social attitudes in chronic fatigue syndrome

Abstract:

One hundred one chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) patients attending a specialist CFS clinic were compared with 45 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients on a range of standardized questionnaire measures, to investigate whether CFS patients are characterized by particular personality traits or social attitudes.

No differences were found between CFS and RA patients in measures of perfectionism, attitudes toward mental illness, defensiveness, social desirability, or sensitivity to punishment (a concept related to neuroticism), on either crude or adjusted analyses. Alexithymia scores were greater in the RA patient group (p<0.05). Social adjustment, based on subjective assessment of overall restriction in activities and relationship difficulties, was substantially poorer in the CFS group (p<0.001). This was highly associated with depressive symptoms, but remained significant even after adjusting for depressive symptomatology.

There was no evidence from this study of major differences between the personalities of CFS patients and RA patients. The stereotype of CFS sufferers as perfectionists with negative attitudes toward psychiatry was not supported.

 

Source: Wood B, Wessely S. Personality and social attitudes in chronic fatigue syndrome. J Psychosom Res. 1999 Oct;47(4):385-97. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10616232

 

Personality dimensions in chronic fatigue syndrome and depression

Abstract:

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a poorly understood condition. Possible etiological factors include infectious agents, psychiatric disorders, and personality characteristics. We examined personality dimensions in 30 nondepressed patients with CFS, 20 patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), and 15 healthy controls. On the NEO-FFI, patients with CFS scored significantly lower than healthy controls on the extroversion subscale. On the neuroticism dimension of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), patients with MDD scored higher than those with CFS, who in turn scored significantly higher than the healthy controls. CFS patients rated themselves as higher on neuroticism and less extroverted when ill than when they were well. Our results suggest that high scores on neuroticism and low scores on extroversion in CFS could be a reaction to chronic illness.

 

Source: Buckley L, MacHale SM, Cavanagh JT, Sharpe M, Deary IJ, Lawrie SM. Personality dimensions in chronic fatigue syndrome and depression. J Psychosom Res. 1999 Apr;46(4):395-400. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10340240

 

Personality dimensions in the chronic fatigue syndrome: a comparison with multiple sclerosis and depression

Abstract:

This study investigated the relative rates of personality disturbance in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Individuals who met the CDC criteria for CFS were compared to two other fatiguing illness groups, mild multiple sclerosis and depression, as well as sedentary healthy controls.

Subjects were administered a structured psychiatric interview to determine Axis I psychiatric disorders and two self-report instruments to assess Axis II personality disorders and the personality trait of neuroticism.

The depressed group had significantly more personality disorders and elevated neuroticism scores compared with the other three groups. The CFS and MS subjects had intermediary personality scores which were significantly higher than healthy controls.

The CFS group with concurrent depressive disorder (34% of the CFS group) was found to account for most of the personality pathology in the CFS sample. The results are discussed in the context of the relationship between personality variables and fatiguing illness.

 

Source: Johnson SK, DeLuca J, Natelson BH. Personality dimensions in the chronic fatigue syndrome: a comparison with multiple sclerosis and depression. J Psychiatr Res. 1996 Jan-Feb;30(1):9-20. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8736462