The Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on Fear of Disease Progression and Psychological Distress of Patients with Hypothyroidism

Subject Areas : Thoughts and Behavior in Clinical Psychology

azam hoseinzadeh ¹ , salman zarei ²

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Received: 2022-04-18 Accepted : 2022-04-18 Published : 2021-03-21

Keywords: Keywords: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Fear of Disease Progression, Psychological Distress, Hypothyroidism,

Abstract :

Fear of disease progression as one of the most important psychological structures is one of the most common symptoms distress and stress for patients with a life-threatening disease. Fear of disease progression can be defined as a realistic reactive fear of which the person is fully aware. The aim of study was to investigate the effect of cognitive behavioral therapy on the psychological distress and fear of disease progression of patients with hashimoto's hypothyroidism. For this purpose, in a quasi-experiential   study with pre-test, post-test, follow up and control group, 32 patients with hashimoto's hypothyroidism among the patients referred to clinics of subspecialty physicians in Karaj were selected by available sample and randomly divided into experimental and control groups (n= 16 each).  The groups were evaluated for psychological distress and fear of disease progression before and after the treatment intervention and three months after the end of the research. The result of analysis   of   covariance with repeated measures showed a significant difference in fear of disease progression and psychological distress between the performance of two experimental and control groups. The results indicate the effect of cognitive behavioral therapy on the fear of disease progression and psychological distress in patients with hypothyroidism; therefore, this intervention can be used as a complementary treatment, along with medication, to improve the lives of patients with hashimoto's disease.