The relationship between defence mechanisms and clinical variables in myocardial infarction patients.

Introduction: Although patients with myocardial infarction (MI) history exhibit individual differences, several psychological problems can be observed in these patients. The present study aimed to investigate the correlation between defence mechanisms and other clinical and sociodemographic data in the early period in patients with MI history.

Material and methods: Sixty patients diagnosed with MI and hospitalized in the cardiology department were included in the study. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and Defence Styles Questionnaire (DSQ) were applied.

Results: It was determined that the mean BDI score of the participants was 15.9 ±11.2, and the mean BAI score was 15.98 ±10.9. There was a positive correlation between the depression and immature defence mechanism scores of the patients, and there was a negative correlation between the depression and mature defence mechanism scores of the patients (p = 0.001, r = 0.412; p = 0.005, r = -0.359). A negative correlation was determined between anxiety scores and mature defence mechanism scores (p = 0.002, r = -0. 397).

Conclusions: The findings demonstrated that depressive complaints of the post-MI patients increased as the immature defence mechanism score increased, and depressive complaints decreased as the maturity defence mechanism score increased. The correlation between the defence mechanisms adopted by MI patients and depression and anxiety symptoms should not be neglected.