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Suffering and Posttraumatic Growth in Women With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE): A Qualitative/Quantitative Case Study

Received January 30, 2007; revised July 4, 2007; accepted July 25, 2007. From the Dept. of Psychiatry, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland; Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine, London, U.K.; the Dept. of Rheumatology, University Hospital of Zurich, and the Division of Rheumatology, Kantonsspital Schaffhausen. Send correspondence and reprint requests to Lutz Wittmann, Ph.D., Dept. of Psychiatry, University Hospital Zurich, Culmannstrasse 8, CH-8091 Zurich, Switzerland. e-mail: lutz.wittmann{at}usz.ch
© 2009 The Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine

BACKGROUND: In spite of the evident importance of suffering, the medical and psychological literature, with some exceptions, contains few contributions toward an understanding of its phenomenology, etiology, and alleviation.OBJECTIVE: To enhance understanding of suffering in chronic physical disease, the authors applied qualitative content analysis to semistructured interviews with 12 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.METHOD: This study was intended to be exploratory, adopting a predominantly qualitative approach, supplemented with quantitative data. Case reports, complemented by psychometric and objective illness-related data, were used to elucidate a model of suffering and to explain its etiology and its interaction with personal growth.RESULTS: Findings were consistent with the concept of suffering as a psychological process triggered and sustained by an appraised threat to the "Self" or "Personhood."CONCLUSION: Results indicate that various types of suffering have to be differentiated. Recognizing personal growth in response to the illness-experience may reduce suffering.

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