The impacts of cognitive distortions of patients diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder on medication adherence

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to determine the impacts of cognitive distortions of patients diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder on medication adherence. Methods: The study was carried out during the dates of 20.01.2019 and 20.05.2019 on patients diagnosed with anxiety who applied to the Gaziantep University Sahinbey Research and Application Hospital Psychiatry Polyclinic as outpatients and inpatients. Personal Information Form, Cognitive Distortions Scale and Morisky Medication Adherence Scale were used for assessment. The patients were divided into two groups as those with low treatment adherence and those with moderate/high treatment adherence. Results: Of the 96 patients, 20.8% were in the 25-29 age groups with %58 females. 46.9% were married and the education level of 35.4% was primary school. There were no significant differences between cognitive distortions and treatment compliance in the total evaluation of cognitive distortions related to interpersonal relationships and distortions related to personal achievement (p>0.05). There was a significant differences between treatment adherence and cognitive distortions in minimizing/neglecting the positive in interpersonal relationships in terms of the evaluation of each cognitive distortions (p=0.03).Discussion: Minimizing/neglecting the positive cognitive distortion were negatively correlated with treatment compliance. In combination of pharmacotherapy and cognitive therapies, the detection and prioritization of distortions primarily related to minimizing/neglecting the positive may contribute to the effectiveness of treatment.