Emotional Dysregulation Mechanisms in Psychosomatic Chronic Diseases Revealed by the Instability Coefficient

Abstract

In the present work, we analyzed some emotional mechanisms (emotion dysregulation—ED, negative affect—NA, and emotional vulnerability) involved in chronic diseases by means of an interdisciplinary approach. We started from the conceptualization of emotions as a complex dynamic system that can be investigated and understood within a framework inspired by Chaos Theory. An “instability coefficient” Δ was computed to analyze ED mechanisms, NA, and emotional vulnerability in different disease groups (blood cancer, breast cancer, hypertension) as well as in healthy persons. This coefficient, recently defined by our group, computes the Euclidian distance between the pairs of vectors whose components are similar or reverted items of a test measuring ED. The emotional and somatic systems were considered as two complex dynamical systems in interaction. Due to this interaction, and as a result of the laws of complexity, a small perturbation in an inner state of the emotional system could generate an important reaction in the somatic system in time. The emotional vulnerability reflected by high values of Δ was associated with the chronic disease condition. The differences between illness groups and healthy persons, as well as between the three disease groups in Δ values, were analyzed. The results showed that there were significant differences between the chronic disease groups in Δ values. The most highly significant differences in Δ values were reported between the breast cancer group and the healthy group on one hand and between the breast cancer group and the blood cancer group on the other hand. The less significant differences in Δ values were noticed between the hypertension group and the control group. Δ was significant in predicting ED and NA. Compared to the classical approaches, the original contribution of our research is that these results encourage us to propose this interdisciplinary method of assessment as a challenging, valid tool of investigation and understanding of complex phenomena that occur in the emotional and somatic system.