[Assessment of stressful life events and sense of coherence in patients with unipolar and bipolar disorder].

AIM: Comparison of stressful life events assessment and level of sense of coherence in patients with unipolar and bipolar affective disorder and healthy subjects.

METHOD: 60 patients with unipolar and bipolar disorder and 30 healthy subjects were examined with the Stressful Life Events Questionnaire R. H. Rahe'a and Sense of Coherence Questionnaire.

RESULTS: It has been proved that between examined groups exist sufficient differences in the assessment of stressful life events and level of sense of coherence. Besides that it has been observed that patients with affective disorder do not differ in number of named stressful life events.

CONCLUSIONS: Knowledge about the individual characteristics concerning cognitive assessment of stressful life events made by the patients with unipolar and bipolar disorder and their level of sense of coherence can play an important role in diagnostic and therapeutic process, so this kind of knowledge ought to be broadened by new research.