Features of Adaptive and Compensatory Psychological Mechanisms in Patients with Myasthenia Gravis

Abstract

The peculiarity of this study was not only the study of the severity of subjectively felt psychopathological manifestations and the level of depression in patients with myasthenia, data on which are found in the literature, but the features of psychological adaptive-compensatory mechanisms were first considered. The psychological characteristics of the perception of time, the level of internality and the meaning of life orientations, substantive psychopathological manifestations are studied. The article discusses the features of psychological adaptive-compensatory mechanisms in patients with myasthenia through the prism of the severity of subjectively felt psychopathological manifestations and characteristics of time, the level of internality, and life-meaning orientations. The data of modern studies of similar parameters in patients with myasthenia are given.The purpose of the study is the analysis of adaptive-compensatory psychological mechanisms in patients with myasthenia gravis, in comparison with individuals who do not have physical disorders.Materials and methods. The study involved 61 people: patients with myasthenia gravis diagnosed on the basis of clinical manifestations and the results of instrumental and laboratory tests (study of the level of antibodies to AchR MuSk) (31 people) and people without physical abnormalities (30 people). All participants were examined by experimental psychological methods: symptomatic questionnaire “SCL-90”, “Level of subjective control”, test of lifemeaning orientations, A. Beck’s depression scale, questionnaire “Semantic time differential”.Results. Patients with myasthenia gravis complain of unpleasant physical sensations, obsessive thoughts, sometimes note repeated actions and rituals. They are characterized by depressive symptoms, the presence of fears, alertness. Symptoms of the disease are assessed by them as causing great discomfort. Compared to the control group, they take less of their successes and failures, consider that their contribution to the development of family and production relations is small, these factors depend on external circumstances. In the subjective sense of the psychological characteristics of time, the present and future are defined as inactive, their course seems uneven, poorly structured, poorly predicted.Conclusion. The data obtained establish target-centered zones of psychological correction in order to stabilize the adaptive-compensatory mechanisms of patients with myasthenia gravis — this is a work aimed at correcting the self-concept and goal setting, helping the individual to better adapt to the chronic psycho-traumatic effect of the disease.