Features of psychopathological reaction in parents whose children suffer from chronic musculoskeletal disorders

Abstract

The aim: Was exploring features of psychopathological reaction in parents whose children suffer from chronic musculoskeletal disorders. Materials and methods: Clinically, 40 fathers and 64 mothers of children suffering from chronic muscular motor pathologies using M. Hamilton’s Depression and Anxiety Scale and Buss-Durkee Hostility Invertory were examined. Results: It was revealed that the foundation of psychopathological reactions of parents to the chronic illness of children is depressive (from 68,2% to 97,0%) and anxiety (from 40.9% to 100.0%) disorders, and dyssomic disorders as well (from 18.2% to 93.9%), asthenic (from 9.1% to 81.8.%), affective lability (from 9.1% to 36.4%), apathetic (from 4.5% to 42.4%), cognitive (from 4.5% to 42.4%) and obsessive-phobic (from 4.5% to 39.4%) disorders. Mothers with longer and shorter periods of illness in children showed higher levels of depression (20.82 ± 5.94 and 20.26 ± 6.59 respectively) and anxiety (19.06 ± 5.00 and 17, 77 ± 5.65) compared with fathers (17.44 ± 8.78 and 10.82 ± 6.21, respectively; 14.72 ± 5.57 and 14.95 ± 4.45), but fathers showed higher levels of aggression 65.59 ± 10.42 and 63.21 ± 10.31 (respectively versus 55.27 ± 6.97 and 49.72 ± 10.00). Conclusions: А high level of psychopathological reaction in mothers is detected at short periods of disease, and in fathers it significantly grows as the duration of child’s illness increases.