Prediction of handicap and emotional distress in patients with recurrent vertigo: symptoms, coping strategies, control beliefs and reciprocal causation
Prediction of handicap and emotional distress in patients with recurrent vertigo: symptoms, coping strategies, control beliefs and reciprocal causation
Factors predicting handicap and distress were examined in a longitudinal study of 101 patients suffering from recurrent vertigo (dizziness). Analysis of a questionnaire assessing coping strategies yielded four distinct individualised coping styles: problem-focused information-seeking; distraction; denial; and relinquishing responsibility. After controlling for the severity of physical and psychological symptoms and distress, handicap was negatively related to internal locus of control and positively correlated with relinquishing responsibility. Symptoms of somatic anxiety predicted an increase in handicap over a 7 month period, while handicap and somatic anxiety symptoms predicted an increase in distress. These results are interpreted in terms of a reciprocal causal relationship between handicap and distress, mediated partly by somatic symptoms. Parallels with pain, panic and phobia suggest that patients with vertigo might benefit from psychological therapies.
anxiety, somatisation, symptom monitoring, vestibular disorder
573-581
Yardley, Lucy
64be42c4-511d-484d-abaa-f8813452a22e
1 August 1994
Yardley, Lucy
64be42c4-511d-484d-abaa-f8813452a22e
Yardley, Lucy
(1994)
Prediction of handicap and emotional distress in patients with recurrent vertigo: symptoms, coping strategies, control beliefs and reciprocal causation.
Social Science and Medicine, 39 (4), .
(doi:10.1016/0277-9536(94)90100-7).
Abstract
Factors predicting handicap and distress were examined in a longitudinal study of 101 patients suffering from recurrent vertigo (dizziness). Analysis of a questionnaire assessing coping strategies yielded four distinct individualised coping styles: problem-focused information-seeking; distraction; denial; and relinquishing responsibility. After controlling for the severity of physical and psychological symptoms and distress, handicap was negatively related to internal locus of control and positively correlated with relinquishing responsibility. Symptoms of somatic anxiety predicted an increase in handicap over a 7 month period, while handicap and somatic anxiety symptoms predicted an increase in distress. These results are interpreted in terms of a reciprocal causal relationship between handicap and distress, mediated partly by somatic symptoms. Parallels with pain, panic and phobia suggest that patients with vertigo might benefit from psychological therapies.
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Published date: 1 August 1994
Keywords:
anxiety, somatisation, symptom monitoring, vestibular disorder
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Local EPrints ID: 509298
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/509298
ISSN: 0277-9536
PURE UUID: c176dc37-1da2-4375-b2cd-69176c2306b8
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Date deposited: 18 Feb 2026 17:39
Last modified: 19 Feb 2026 02:35
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