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Panic‐fear research in asthma and the nuclear conflict theory of asthma: Similarities, differences and clinical implications
Author(s) -
Dirks Jerald F.,
Paley Aaron,
Fross Kenneth H.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
british journal of medical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.102
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 2044-8341
pISSN - 0007-1129
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8341.1979.tb02496.x
Subject(s) - judaism , research center , citation , panic disorder , psychology , library science , medicine , sociology , psychiatry , history , political science , archaeology , law , anxiety , computer science
Recent research with the MMPI panic-fear scale has identified personality traits implicated in the psychological maintenance of the medical intractability of asthma. Intensity of prescribed medication, length of hospitalization, and rates of rehospitalization have been found to relate to MMPI panic-fear scores independent of the objective medical severity of the illness as indexed by longitudinal pulmonary functions. In the present study, MMPI panic-fear scores are related to separation and protection conflicts arising in childhood. While the nuclear conflict theory of asthma maintains that such conflicts occur in nearly all asthmatics and form a genetic component of the asthma, the present study finds that childhood separation and protection conflicts occur in a minority of patients, but may be instrumental in maintaining the medical intractability of the illness.