PAIN AND HELPLESSNESS AS CORRELATES OF DEPRESSION IN SYSTEMIC LUPUS-ERYTHEMATOSUS

Depression in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a common yet poorl y understood phenomenon. This research adopted a biopsychosocial model in which pain and family support were hypothesized to predict depress ive symptoms directly, and indirectly, through perceived helplessness. A total of 44 confirmed SLE patients recruited through the community completed a set of questionnaires in a cross-sectional, correlation de sign. The results confirmed our model's applicability, demonstrating t hat high pain and high helplessness independently contributed to depre ssion; however, the contribution of family support was not significant . While mixed support was round for a pain-learned helplessness link, helplessness mediated the effects of patients' socio-economic status o n depression such that patients of lower socio-economic status reporte d greater helplessness in the face of their illness. In summary, the d ata indicate that pain and helplessness are important concomitants of SLE-related depression. Longitudinal research is recommended to clarif y the relationships among these variables over time in clinical sample s.