Comparison of primary maladaptive schemas and cognitive distortions in cancer patients with normal people

Dissertation for Master's degree (M.A.)

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Comparison of early maladaptive schemas and cognitive distortions in cancer patients with normal people

Abstract:

The present study aims to compare cognitive distortions and early maladaptive schemas in cancer patients and normal people For this purpose, from the statistical population of cancer patients referred to Shiraz public hospitals, a sample group of 60 people was selected by available sampling method, as well as 60 people from the group of normal people who were selected as available. Research between the average scores of two cancer and normal groups in the dimensions of emotional deprivation, abandonment, defect/shame. Failure, dependency/incompetence, attachment, obedience, self-sacrifice, stubborn standards, and selfishness/inadequate self-discipline among the 15 dimensions of primary maladaptive schemas, significant differences have been observed.

The results obtained in the second hypothesis show that the average difference between the two groups of cancer women and normal women examined in this research in the dimensions of perfectionism, vulnerability, being influenced, and pleasing are significant.  The average difference in the influencing dimension does not have a significant level. Key words: incompatible schemas, cognitive distortions, cancer disease. Introduction: Knowing science and will are special to the children of Adam, which God has bestowed upon them as the highest love. It is obvious that in order to use these two gifts of creating problems and conclusions in the system of existence and creating proposals, it is necessary for man to expand his knowledge and will, which is small at the beginning, and finally, by conquering and surrounding the problems, he can find the final worthiness and worthiness to succeed him. The existence of problems called disease for man is perhaps one of the desires of man himself to be able to test the power of his knowledge and will in dealing with them (Tabi; quoted by Jamshidzadeh and Namouran, 1382).

Cancer is one of the diseases that, while challenging science and human will, has special mysteries. Just as the diseased cells insert a claw into the tissues and organs of the body, and the same plant of love that if attached to a tree is not easily separated from it, the human will must act in the direction of opposition to cancer cells in such a way that it neutralizes the effects of cancer cells (Otis, 2007; quoted by Mohammadi and Ali Beigi, 2013). 

Research findings came to the conclusion that chronic and repeated stress is directly related to the decrease in immune system function, in addition to this, other studies showed: that the activity level and number of NK cells increases rapidly after short-term and immediate stress, such as: jumping with a parachute, fighting, conflict, complex mental calculations, etc. This study shows that the immune system quickly reacts against the stressor in order to eliminate this factor, but on the contrary, in cases Chronic and long-term tensions, such as personal differences, illness, chronic fear, death of loved ones, divorce, despair and long-term depressions, the level of positive functioning of the immune system, such as: the number and activity of NK cells decreases (Anderson, 1997) [1].

During illness, discomforts arise that a person has a pessimistic view of himself and the world and may

say: "It's useless, I'm a loser" in worry and fear. The thought probably comes to mind: "What will happen if I lose control and fall?" . Although negative thoughts alone are often wrong and illogical, they seem deceptive and real. So that the person thinks that the situation is as bad as it seems, and it is natural that if the patient does not get rid of such unpleasant emotions and does not find a more positive and realistic way of thinking, the disease will overcome him, and this is the fact that by treating these ways of thinking, various types of daily discomforts, including: feelings of psychological insecurity and humiliation, feelings of guilt, psychological pressure, failure and hopelessness are removed (Burns, 1990; quoted by Garache) Daghi, 2013).

Cancer as a traumatic event in life can lead to post-traumatic stress.Dalgleish (1999) states that trauma victims repeatedly evaluate schema-inconsistent information in order to integrate this information with their previous schemas. However, evaluating this information as threatening and inconsistent with previous schemas causes a feeling of current or imminent threat. It is assumed that the chronic activity of the emotion of fear causes the cognitive system to be formed in such a way that the clues related to the trauma are processed selectively and thus reinforce the feeling of constant threat. It is not surprising that researches have confirmed a significant relationship between the change in the person's view of the world and psychological distress. (Turner, 2006). It should be noted that the type of maladaptive schemas may be different based on the type of trauma. Therefore, the current research seeks to explain the primary maladaptive schemas and cognitive distortions in cancer patients. 1-1 Statement of the problem: In Iran, after cardiovascular diseases, cancer is the second cause of death. According to the World Health Organization report, in 2005, 4,700 deaths occurred due to this disease in Iran, of which 2,700 were under 70 years old.  Basically, it is believed that this disease is difficult to treat but easy to prevent. Many researches have proven that psychological support for patients, especially patients with cancer, can be effective on the treatment process and their quality of life, so you have heard the life stories of patients with incurable diseases who were able to fight their disease, in the meantime, the personality and type of beliefs of the patient is very effective on the process of adapting to his life and his disease. Doctors believe that patients who have such a vision and positive attitude and in addition have good family support and good social support compared to Groups that lack these 3 characteristics go through the process of recovery and treatment with good quality and enjoy a good life. Cancer disease is one of the chronic diseases that both causes a person's physical strength to decline and also causes a decrease in daily activities and causes some sexual problems. In addition, a person may suffer from mood disorders such as depression due to the disease he has (Ahadi and Khairjo, 2017).

Miranda[3], Gross[4], Persons[5] and Hahn[6] (1998) concluded that depressed people showed a lot of cognitive dysfunction. For this purpose, in addition to physical treatments, psychological treatments are also very important. Psychologically, continuous cognitive evaluation is important to improve beliefs. In this regard, schemas are the main mechanisms responsible for the patient's apparent problems. A good working hypothesis about the patient's apparent problems and the underlying schemas helps the therapist understand the relationship between the problems, predict his behaviors and adopt appropriate therapeutic interventions, but considering that the schemas are not easily known, the therapist begins his method by strengthening the therapeutic alliance and formulating conceptualization and identifying accessible levels of cognition.  Self-generated thoughts are the first and most accessible level of cognition and can provide clues for activated schemas (Rizzo, Tuit, Steinwayang, 2007; quoted by Molodi and Ahmadi, 2013).

There are two main types of logical errors: excessive thinking [7] and optional thinking [8]. Extreme thinking is used when distortion occurs in the thinking process, which is usually manifested in the form of exaggerating or underestimating the importance of things [9]. In discretionary thinking, any kind of conclusion or inference is obtained without going through the thinking process.

Extreme thinking is divided into four groups: going beyond the facts [10], misinterpreting the facts [11], not considering all the facts [12], using two-dimensional division (two-dimensional) [13] for continuous or spectral phenomena, and grading things that cannot be graded (Frey , 1999; quoted by Mohammadi and Farnam, 2004).