Factors affecting emotional instability in female rheumatoid arthritis outpatients with limited functional disorder

We attempted to identify which background factors were the most important indicators of such psychological problems as emotional instability, a feeling of hopelessness, and suicidal tendencies in female rheumatoid arthritis (RA) outpatients with limited functional disorder. Among female RA patients aged 20 years and older who visited the outpatient clinic, 101 class I and II patients were selected as subjects for the present study. An original questionnaire and a psychological test (CMI) were given to those subjects who had given their written consent to such testing, and an analysis was carried out on 85 patients who returned all the written forms. Their emotional instability was related to factors such as "not being able to understand the nature of RA disease and its treatment," "sense of value had changed after developing RA," "nonuse of drugs," and "duration of disease." A feeling of hopelessness was related to "smoking," and a suicidal tendency was related to "smoking" and "class I." We identified a characteristic correlation between emotional instability and background factors in this study. Paying close attention to these factors may thus be useful in preventing the appearance of psychological problems as well as in developing effective early treatment strategies. Received: April 5, 2000 / Accepted: July 19, 2000