病到深处人孤独

  困难的境地往往会拉近人们之间的距离，但近日一项刊登于国际杂志Health Psychology上的研究论文中，研究者却发现，慢性疾病的发病或会导致患者出现孤独感，甚至对于那些相处50多年的伴侣而言也是如此。

  来自康考迪亚人格、老化和健康实验室的研究者表示，当前有大量的研究来检验孤独感对疾病的效应，但是否疾病会引发孤独感尚缺乏研究依据；Meaghan Barlow博士表示，我们经常通过研究来检测是否感觉到孤独的个体会更有可能患病，但我们却忽略了研究是否患病个体是否会经常有孤独感。

  研究人员在2004至2012年间对121名老年个体进行了相关研究，研究者表示，我们社会关系的质量扮演着重要角色，尤其是当其应对个体后期出现的严重疾病时，而且有一个老伴陪伴左右或许对于患者而言并不足够。通过进一步观察研究，研究人员揭示了如何通过自我保护策略来降低与个体严重健康问题相关的压力，积极地评估个体的健康问题，避免责备患者或许可以帮助有效抑制患者的孤独感，同时也会帮助抑制其抑郁的症状。

  然而如果停止社会交往将会引发恶性循环，因此治疗慢性疾病的同时也应该考虑到患者是否存在孤独感；从自然角度来讲，社会群体面对的挑战就是帮助老化群体寻找动力参与到一些事情中去，这就意味着发现疾病引发的心理学负面效应或许可以抵消个体机体活性的增加。最后研究者Barlow说道，实际上孤独感会引发更多的并发症，这就表明我们需要采取一定的措施来抑制这种恶性循环（疾病引发孤独感，孤独感又会引发更多的疾病）；寻找不同的方式来同患者进行沟通或可帮助患者减少自责的情绪，这样或许可以更好地帮助个体有效抑制病情的发展，促进其机体保持健康。（转化医学网360zhyx.com）

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转化医学网推荐的原文摘要：

Chronic Illness and Loneliness in Older Adulthood: The Role of Self-Protective Control Strategies.
Health Psychol
Barlow MA, Liu SY, Wrosch C.
Objectives: This study examined whether levels of chronic illness predict enhanced feelings of loneliness in older adulthood. In addition, it investigated whether engagement in health-related self-protection (e.g., positive reappraisals), but not in health engagement control strategies (e.g., investment of time and effort), would buffer the adverse effect of chronic illness on older adults' feelings of loneliness. Method: Loneliness was examined repeatedly in 2-year intervals over 8 years in a longitudinal study of 121 community-dwelling older adults (Time 1 age = 64 to 83 years). In addition, levels of chronic illness, health-related control strategies, and sociodemographic variables were assessed at baseline. Results: Growth-curve models showed that loneliness linearly increased over time and that this effect was observed only among participants who reported high, but not low, baseline levels of chronic illness. In addition, health-related self-protection, but not health engagement control strategies, buffered the adverse effect of chronic illness on increases in loneliness. Conclusions: Loneliness increases in older adulthood as a function of chronic illness. Older adults who engage in self-protective strategies to cope with their health threats might be protected from experiencing this adverse effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).