Relational resources in gastrointestinal disease. Social support, dyadic coping and closeness to other

Within a biopsychosocial approach, the objective of this research was to explore relational resources involved in coping with gastrointestinal disease. Using a battery of tests on social support, dyadic coping and closeness to others we compared a sample of 103 patients with gastrointestinal disease to the reference populations and we examined possible differences between organic or functional diagnosis. The subjects with gastrointestinal disease, in contrast to the reference population, reported greater perceived social support, less communication of stress, higher common dyadic coping strategies and higher negative dyadic coping (distancing from others). Subjects with functional diagnosis, compared to organic diagnosis, reported higher closeness with their significant other and higher use of negative coping towards them. Preliminary results suggest that patients with gastrointestinal disease perceive themselves well supported. Nevertheless they show a sort of relational ambivalence and do not always seem able to use social support adequately to cope with their disease.