Health attitudes and psychological distress in patients attending a lithium clinic

Abstract

Health attitudes and psychological distress were investigated in 50 patients attending a Li clinic and in 50 normal controls. Patients receiving Li treatment did not report more worry about illness, hypochondriacal attitudes, concern about pain, disease phobia and bodily preoccupations than normals, even though they took fewer precautions about their health and exhibited more self-rated psychological distress. Since most of the psychiatric patients displayed more fears about illness and death than controls in other studies, this preliminary report may suggest that normal health attitudes are associated with Li compliance in affective illness.