The relationship between anger management style, mood and somatic symptoms

摘要

The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between anger management style, mood (depression and anxiety), and somatic symptoms in depressive disorders, anxiety disorders and somatoform disorders. The subjects comprised 73 patients with depressive disorders, 71 patients with anxiety disorders and 47 patients with somatoform disorders. Anger management style such as anger expression or anger suppression was assessed by the Anger Expression Scale, the severity of anxiety and depression by the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) anxiety and depression subscales, and the severity of somatic symptoms by the Somatization Rating Scale and the SCL-90-R somatization subscale. The results of path analyses showed that only the path of anger expression-anxiety-depression-somatic symptoms was found in depressive disorder patients, whereas the path of anger suppression-depression-anxiety-somatic symptoms was found in anxiety disorder and somatoform disorder patients. However, the path of anger suppression-depression-somatic symptoms was also found in somatoform disorder patients. The results suggest that the path of anger management style-mood-somatic symptoms in depressive disorder patients is different from that in anxiety disorder and somatoform disorder patients. Anger expression in depressive disorder patients but anger suppression in anxiety disorder and somatoform disorder patients might play an important role in mood and somatic symptoms. In addition, only depression in depressive disorders, only anxiety in anxiety disorders, and both depression and anxiety in somatoform disorders are likely to be directly associated with somatic symptoms. These findings suggest that management of mood and somatic symptoms in these disorders requires different therapeutic strategies.