Life events and irrational attitudes in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: relations to pain, disability and general health condition.

Previous research on the effects of life events on maladaptation suggest they should be related to disease impacts in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). From the concept of Rational-Emotive-Therapy the hypothesis was derived that irrational attitudes-in a similar way-are associated with disease related impairment. Subjects were 128 patients with definite RA from a specialized treatment center. When disease activity was controlled, positive change was associated with less disability, negative change was related to general symptoms. Relations between life events and three pain measures could not be established. Irrational attitudes shared significant common variance with three pain-measures (attributes, recent intensity, avoidance), with physical abilities, and with general health condition. The results were discussed with respect to literature and to clinical practice.