COPD Essay

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a disorder that maintains consistent obstruction of airways and lungs. It affects approximately 10% of the population worldwide and is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States (Farver-Vestergaard et al., 2014 and Kohler et al., 2002). According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, COPD is caused by long-term exposure to lung irritants such as cigarette smoke, chemical fumes, and air pollution. The American Lung Association states that COPD is a progressive disease, airways, and air sacs are destroyed and lose their elasticity, the walls of the airways become inflamed and excessive mucus build up occurs. In most cases, there is medication prescribed to those diagnosed …show more content…
Physical symptoms of COPD include dyspnea, cough, systemic inflammation, fatigue, undernourishment and overproduction of mucus. The most common psychological symptoms of COPD are anxiety and depression. In their review researcher’s assessed 1,361 patients by looking at their methodological quality of life and gathered data using meta-analytic evaluation. Results concluded that psychosocial interventions have great potential for cultivating positive outcomes for patients with …show more content…
(1997) study they investigated the effects of group psychotherapy in patients with COPD. There is a significant connection between anxiety, dyspnoea, and patients with COPD. The subjects were ten patients with stable COPD who underwent cognitive and behavioral therapy weekly and afterward filled out questionnaires and completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). The study’s results concluded that although there was an overall improvement in the patients that received group psychotherapy the only significant change was an increase in exercise tolerance. Psychological support in pulmonary rehabilitation has grown in emphasis as well as the concept of group psychotherapy to reduce