Ciuluvica Neagu Cristina, Amerio Paolo, Grossu Ioan Valeriu
Department of Medicine and Aging Sciences, University G. D'Annunzio, Via dei Vestini, 66013 Chieti, Italy.
Faculty of Physics, University of Bucharest, P.O. Box MG 11, 077125 Bucharest-Magurele, Romania.
Brain Sci. 2020 Sep 25;10(10):673. doi: 10.3390/brainsci10100673.
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.
在本研究中，我们采用跨学科方法分析了一些与慢性病相关的情绪机制（情绪失调 - ED、消极情绪 - NA 和情绪易感性）。我们从将情绪概念化为一个复杂动态系统开始，该系统可以在受混沌理论启发的框架内进行研究和理解。计算了一个“不稳定系数”Δ，以分析不同疾病组（血癌、乳腺癌、高血压）以及健康人群中的 ED 机制、NA 和情绪易感性。这个系数是我们团队最近定义的，它计算的是向量对之间的欧几里得距离，这些向量的分量是测量 ED 的测试中的相似或相反项目。情绪系统和躯体系统被视为两个相互作用的复杂动态系统。由于这种相互作用，并且根据复杂性定律，情绪系统内部状态的一个小扰动可能会及时在躯体系统中产生重要反应。由高 Δ 值反映的情绪易感性与慢性病状况相关。分析了疾病组与健康人群之间以及三个疾病组在 Δ 值上的差异。结果表明，慢性病组在 Δ 值上存在显著差异。一方面，乳腺癌组与健康组之间以及另一方面，乳腺癌组与血癌组之间在 Δ 值上的差异最为显著。高血压组与对照组之间在 Δ 值上的差异不太显著。Δ 在预测 ED 和 NA 方面具有显著性。与经典方法相比，我们研究的原创贡献在于，这些结果促使我们提出这种跨学科评估方法，作为一种具有挑战性的、有效的工具，用于研究和理解情绪和躯体系统中发生的复杂现象。
