Table_1_“Who I Am Now, Is More Me.” An Interview Study of Patients’ Reflections 10 Years After Exhaustion Disorder.DOCX

Aim: To achieve a deeper understanding of the patient’s perception regarding individual aspects related to the development of exhaustion, hindering and supporting factors in the recovery process, and potential remaining consequences, 7–12 years after receiving an exhaustion disorder diagnosis.Participants and Methods: Twenty patients previously diagnosed with and treated for exhaustion disorder were interviewed 7–12 years after onset of the disease. The semi-structured interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed with inductive content analysis.Results: Three main themes with patterns of shared meaning resulted from the analysis: “it’s about who I am,” “becoming a more authentic me,” and “the struggle never ends.” The interviewees described rehabilitation from exhaustion disorder as the start of an important personal development toward a truer and more authentic self-image. They perceived this as an ongoing long-lasting process where learned behavior and thought patterns related to overcommitment and overcompliance needed to be re-evaluated. The results also convey long-term consequences such as cognitive difficulties and reduces energy, uncertainty about one’s own health, and the need to prioritize among one’s relationships.Conclusion: Patients with exhaustion disorder are still struggling with dysfunctional strategies and functional impairments such as cognitive problems which limit their lives, 10 years after receiving their exhaustion disorder diagnosis. While informants describe some positive consequences of ED, the results also emphasize the importance of acknowledging that the patients are embedded in systems of relationships, in working life as well as in family life. This needs to be considered, together with other aspects, when working toward prevention of stress-related mental health problems.

目的：旨在深入探讨病人在承受力耗竭病症诊断后的7至12年间，对于个人在耗竭发展过程中相关方面的感知、康复过程中的阻碍与支持因素，以及潜在遗留后果的理解。参与者与方法：对先前被诊断为并接受过耗竭病症治疗的20名患者，在疾病发病后7至12年进行访谈。半结构化访谈内容被逐字记录并采用归纳性内容分析方法进行分析。结果：分析结果显示出三个具有共享意义模式的主要主题：“关乎自我之本质”，“成为更真实的自我”，以及“斗争永无止境”。受访者将耗竭病症的康复描述为向更加真实和本真的自我形象发展的重要个人成长的开端。他们视此为一个持续的长期过程，其中需要重新评估与过度承诺和过度顺从相关的学习行为和思维模式。结果还传达了长期后果，如认知困难、能量减少、对自己健康状况的不确定性，以及需要在人际关系中优先排序的需求。结论：耗竭病症患者在诊断后10年仍需与功能失调的策略和认知问题等功能障碍作斗争，这些功能障碍限制了他们的生活。尽管受访者描述了某些与耗竭病症相关的积极后果，但结果亦强调了承认患者嵌入于人际关系体系、职业生涯和家庭生活之中这一重要性的必要性。在致力于预防与压力相关的心理健康问题的过程中，这需要与其他方面综合考虑。