Adjustment to Parkinson's Disease by Patients and Their Spouses

Abstract

This study compares the psychosocial and psychological adjustment to the illness of thirty Parkinson's patients and their spouses. The main findings indicate that the patients' adjustment in both areas was significantly worse than their spouses', confirming one part of the authors' hypothesis. In terms of psychological adjustment specifically, the patients showed more symptoms of phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, and psychoticism, while spouses felt more anxiety. Contrary to the second part of the hypothesis, the findings did not indicate a correlation between patients' and spouses' adjustment to the illness.