Psychological resilience and stress coping methods in patients presenting with conversive symptoms and general medical symptoms

Abstract

To investigate the differences between the levels of psychological resilience and coping with stress among individuals presenting with conversion symptoms and general medical symptoms to the emergency department. A comparative-descriptive research study was conducted on 118 patients (n = 59) who presented with conversion symptoms (n = 59) and general medical symptoms (n = 59) from the Kafkas University Health, Practice and Research Hospital, Emergency Department. The research data were collected using a general information form, the Stress Coping Styles Scale (SCSS) and the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS). In addition to descriptive statistical methods, chi-square analysis and t-test were used in the evaluation of differences between groups. The mean age of the participants in the conversion symptoms group was 28.10 ± 13.49 and 25.69 ± 7.85 in the control group. The mean score obtained by the participants in the control group on the BRS was found to be significantly higher than that of the participants in the conversion symptoms group (p <0.05). There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of the mean scores on the subscales of the SCSS (p > .05). Psychological resilience levels were low in patients presenting with conversion symptoms. Based on this finding, individuals presenting to health centers with conversion symptoms would greatly benefit from the development of therapeutic interventions that aim to improve psychological resilience.

Keywords

• Conversion
• psychological resilience
• coping skills

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