Citation

Crowe C, Coen RF, Kidd N, Hevey D, Cooney J, Harbison J. J. Health Psychol. 2015; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

University of Dublin, Ireland jharbiso@tcd.ie.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1359105315581067

PMID

25930078

Abstract

There is little qualitative data on the emotional effect of stroke upon which to base hypotheses for psychological interventions. We used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of semi-structured interviews with 10 individuals in the clinical range for psychological distress on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale to explore their experiences of psychological distress. Three super-ordinate themes (the fear of stroke, loss of self and sense of isolation and aloneness) emerged. Processes involving a lack of acceptance and self-compassion underlined these themes. Internal isolation was found as a great problem. These themes may indicate targets for directed psychological interventions in people following stroke.

Language: en