Le risorse relazionali nella malattia gastrointestinale.

[Autom. eng. transl.] Following a biopsychosocial approach (1), the relational resources involved in coping with gastrointestinal disease, understood as a stressful interpersonal event, were investigated. By means of a series of questionnaires concerning social support (3), dyadic coping (4) and proximity to the Other Significant (5) the results of subjects with gastrointestinal pathology (N = 103) were compared with the normative values; furthermore, differences based on organic or functional diagnosis were considered. The analyzes carried out (SPSS) show that the subjects suffering from gastrointestinal pathology differ in a statistically significant way from the normative sample for: a greater perception of support, a lower communication of stress, a greater use of a common dyadic coping (which consists in the effort mutual in the management of the disease) and a negative coping (characterized by hostile, contradictory or formal behavior towards the Other). Specifically, the subjects with functional diagnosis, compared to the organic one, perceive a greater closeness with the Significant Other, even in the presence of a negative coping towards it. It therefore seems possible to hypothesize that subjects with gastrointestinal disorders present ambivalence in affective relationships which, although perceived as supportive, do not seem to constitute an affective resource in coping with the disease.