الفهرس 
Introduction and Aim of The WorkOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Aim of the work
To validly assess the psychological profile of RA patients in comparison to patients with osteoarthrititis (OA) of the knees, in order to establish whether RA patients are psychologically different from other patients with a chronic painful articular disease.
In addition, it aims to study the correlation between selected psychological factors and selected parameters of RA including pain, disease duration, severity and activity as well as the disability caused by the disease.
Through this work, we hope to direct attention to psychological evaluation during rehabilitation of RA patients.
Conclusion
We concluded that the SCL-90-R appears to be valid for psychological assessment in RA as well as providing a rough estimate for the presence of psychiatric disorders, on which anxiety and depression are the most prevalent.
We also concluded that premorbid psychotrauma may have a role in precipitating RA, and that RA patients suffer more psychologically than OA patients especially with regards to depression. Depression is significantly correlated with disability and the ESR in RA patients, while other psychological factors may be associated with selected socio-demographic characteristics but not with disease parameters.
We recommend that physicians and other health care professionals address psychological and social problems when dealing with RA patients. Longitudinal studies are needed especially in the fields of psychneuroimmunology and psychosocial determinants of psychological dysfunction in RA patients.