Social isolation, cognitive and emotional regulation strategies and exacerbation of Graves- Basedow's disease’s symptoms

Abstract

The current study aimed to investigate the role of both social isolation and cognitive emotion regulation strategies in exacerbating the symptoms of Grave’s-Basedow, which is an autoimmune diseas, in which many studies have agreed on the importance of the role played by psychosocial factors. To achieve the objectives of the study, a sample of 92 patients with Graves' disease, who were receiving treatment medical office specializing in endocrinology have recruited. Two questionnaire was used, the social isolation questionnaire, the questionnaire of emotional and cognitive regulation strategies. Results showed that 59.8% of the sample suffer from a high level of social isolation, and 92.4% of them use non adaptative cognitive emotion regulation strategies. There is a significant correlation between social isolation, adaptative and non-adaptative cognitive emotion strategies. The results also revealed significant differences in social isolation and adaptive cognitive-emotional regulation strategies according to the severity of the disease. Adaptative cognitive emotion regulation strategies contribute to the stability of the symptoms of Grave’s- disease. Finaly result shows that social isolation has a mediator role between adaptative and non-adaptative cognitive emotion regulation strategies. The present study indicates the importance of psychological and social factors in the exacerbation of Graves-Basedow disease, and draws the attention of health professionals to the importance of including psychological care alongside medical care, and developing preventive measures helping patients to better manage disease, such as cognitive emotion regulation, and psychosocial support programs.