Resentment, Hate, and Hope in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Abstract

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal and progressive neurodegenerative disease. Despite much research having been conducted about psychological issues involved in living with ALS, anger, and resentment have yet to be investigated. Moreover, the construct of “hope” has received little attention, so far. An online survey was created to investigate hate, resentment, and hope issues in people with ALS, in relation to the willingness to adopt a strict nutrient-dense diet if it were shown to increase longevity. Results indicate that there is a high level of hope in the sample. People who have lived with ALS for more time expressed a higher level of hope to live 10 years or more. Those who are married were more likely to have hope of living 10 years or longer and more likely to have lower levels of hate against ALS. Dietary self-care choices appear to be related to hope issues. Resentment and hate tended to be higher in people who have had ALS for less time, and in women. Despite some methodological limitations, the results suggest that hope, hate, and resentment could be important issues to explore in future studies.

Hypnosis-based psychodynamic treatment in ALS: a longitudinal study on patients and their caregivers

“…However, albeit denial was intensively used, the most employed defense mechanism observed in our sample was projection (i.e., attributing to others tendencies originally located and identified within oneself, and then condemned and disavowed), in particular in terms of paranoid thinking. Items related to the idea of other people posing a threat to the patients' own physical and psychical life, received extremely high scores (all patients scored 9 or 10, on a 10 points Likert scale), probably related to that painful feeling of “punishment” wittily detected in clinical interviews with patients by Oster and Pagnini ( 2012 ).…”

“…Among the wide range of reactions in which a human being could react to the diagnosis of ALS and its devastating consequences, such as apathy, denial (Ferro et al, 1987 ) stoicism (Rabkin et al, 2000 ), resentment, hate, hope (Oster and Pagnini, 2012 ), or suicidal ideation (Palmieri et al, 2010a ), anxiety and depression are probably the most expected features. While their real prevalence is still uncertain (Pagnini, 2013 ) most studies report values around 30% for anxiety and 40% for depression with some studies reporting values up to 70% for both (Kurt et al, 2007 ; Wicks et al, 2007 ; Palmieri et al, 2009 ; Pagnini, 2013 ).…”

Illness trajectories in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: How illness progression is related to life narratives and interpersonal relationships

“…A substantial amount of quantitative research has been conducted on the psychological problems caused by the impact of the disease (Goldstein, Atkins, Landau, Brown, & Leigh, ; Palmieri et al., , ). The reactions described in response to the disease vary and include denial (Kleinbub et al., ), apathy (Caga et al., ), anguish, suicidal ideation (Palmieri et al., ), resentment, hate and hope (Oster & Pagnini, ). Anxiety and depression are the most expected and most frequently described reactions, particularly in the initial stages of the disease (Pagnini, Manzoni, Tagliaferri, & Gibbons, ; Palmieri et al., ; Real, Dickhaus, Ludolph, Hautzinger, & Kübler, ).…”

Psychological Issues in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

“…However, albeit denial was intensively used, the most employed defense mechanism observed in our sample was projection (i.e., attributing to others tendencies originally located and identified within oneself, and then condemned and disavowed), in particular in terms of paranoid thinking. Items related to the idea of other people posing a threat to the patients' own physical and psychical life, received extremely high scores (all patients scored 9 or 10, on a 10 points Likert scale), probably related to that painful feeling of "punishment" wittily detected in clinical interviews with patients by Oster and Pagnini (2012).…”

“…In this case, the patient's life can be extended 10 years or more after the onset in locked-in state (Vianello et al, 2011). Among the wide range of reactions in which a human being could react to the diagnosis of ALS and its devastating consequences, such as apathy, denial (Ferro et al, 1987) stoicism , resentment, hate, hope (Oster and Pagnini, 2012), or suicidal ideation (Palmieri et al, 2010a), anxiety and depression are probably the most expected features. While their real prevalence is still uncertain most studies report values around 30% for anxiety and 40% for depression with some studies reporting values up to 70% for both (Kurt et al, 2007;Wicks et al, 2007;.…”