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Liaison psychiatry and HIV infection (I): Avoidance coping responses associated with depressive symptoms accompanying somatic complaints
Author(s) -
FUKUNISHI ISAO,
HAYASHI MOTOKO,
MATSUMOTO TOMOKO,
NEGISHI MASAYOSHI,
HOSAKA TAKASHI,
MORIYA HIROFUMI
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
psychiatry and clinical neurosciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1440-1819
pISSN - 1323-1316
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1819.1997.tb02357.x
Subject(s) - coping (psychology) , psychiatry , mood , distress , avoidance coping , somatization , clinical psychology , depressive mood , depressive symptoms , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , medicine , abdominal pain , chills , psychology , anxiety , immunology
We examined the relationship of somatic complaints to coping behaviors and mood states among 50 HIV‐positive patients without AIDS. Although no patients fulfilled the DSM‐III‐R criteria for mood disorders including major depression, scores for depressive symptoms were significantly higher in the HIV‐positive patients than in healthy persons. Although depressive symptoms in HIV patients may not be strong enough to warrant a psychiatric diagnosis of mood disorders, these patients may be prone to depressive symptoms. The HIV patients indicated a tendency toward somatic complaints more frequently than their healthy counterparts. The scores for depressive symptoms were significantly and positively correlated with scores for avoidance coping responses. The presence or absence of six complaints (i.e., general fatigue, abdominal distress, chest pain or discomfort, and numbness or chills) could be discriminated based on the score of avoidance coping responses. The results of this study suggest that avoidance coping responses associated with depressive symptoms accompany several somatic complaints in HIV patients without AIDS.