Emotion regulation in psychosomatic diseases: qualitative study

Introduction: The term of psychosomatic is the disease which involves both mind and body. Sometimes mental and emotional factors may act as risk factor that could influence the initiation and progression of them. Aim: The aim of this study was to study of emotion regulation in psychosomatic diseases by qualitative study. Method: This study was qualitative. The data of this study collected by in-depth semi-structured interview tools. The study population was 22 patients with psychosomatic diseases (heart, gastrointestinal and respiratory) from Baqiyatallah Hospital in 2020. They were selected by target and voluntarily. Data were analyzed using the content analysis approach and there were analyzed by Graneheim and Lundman method and the qualitative themes of the study were prioritized according to their importance. Results: Qualitative analysis of participants' lived experience Resulted to two main categories of healthy and unhealthy strategies. also The results of this study include the seven themes (changing attention to something else, decision making and problem solving, attention to positive and pleasant thoughts, acceptance, worship, self-control and improving the self-esteem) for healthy strategies and Unhealthy strategies include to the 9 themes (Anger and aggression, rumination, cognitive errors, overuse of social networks, Erratic, persistence in beliefs, procrastination, extremism, substance abuse, distraction). Conclusion: Despite of the complexity of the experienced, phenomenon of emotions in psychosomatic patients is regulated in different ways, which is one of the underlying factors in psychosomatic diseases.