Methodology of studying psychological adaptation of patients with autoimmune liver diseases while waiting for transplantation

The article provides an analytical review of modern domestic and foreign psychological studies of patients with autoimmune liver diseases (AILD). Literature data and own experience of psychological work with patients in the terminal stage of AILD, while waiting for orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) allowed to make the conclusion that among the variety of psychological phenomena and constructs, the most adequate and well-founded is the study of psychological adaptation of the individual to the disease. In accordance with this, the article presents theoretical bases for studying psychological adaptation of patients with AILD, including the modern biopsychosocial model of health and illness and the systemic concept of mental adaptation; separate components of the substructure of psychological adaptation are analyzed (mechanisms of psychological defense, coping mechanisms, internal picture of the disease, etc.). The methodology developed by the authors for studying the psychological adaptation of AILD patients while waiting for transplantation is suggested. It has been tested in the scientific research and practical activities of medical psychologists on the basis of the “Russian Scientific Center of Radiology and Surgical Technologies”.