Περίληψη:
BACKGROUND: Psoriasis is a chronic, inflammatory, relapsing skin disease
that has a psychosocial impact on the patients' life.
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate psychopathology in patients
with psoriasis based on a valid psychometric instrument, as well as on
the relationship between psychopathology and alexithymia.
METHODS: 108 patients with psoriasis were included in the study.
Psychopathology was evaluated with the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised
(SCL-90-R) and alexithymia with the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20).
Disease severity was clinically assessed using the Psoriasis Area and
Severity Index.
RESULTS: As regards the psychopathological dimensions, female patients
presented with statistically significant higher somatization,
depression, anxiety, phobic anxiety, and psychoticism than males.
Patients with alexithymia presented with statistically significant
higher somatization, interpersonal sensitivity, anxiety, and phobic
anxiety than non-alexithymic patients. Alexithymia positively correlated
with somatization (r = 0.26, p < 0.01), interpersonal sensitivity (r =
0.24, p < 0.05), depression (r = 0.27, p < 0.01), anxiety (r = 0.26, p <
0.01), and phobic anxiety (r = 0.26, p < 0.01). In addition, alexithymia
also contributed to the prediction of these conditions.
STUDY LIMITATIONS: A larger study sample could yield safer generalized
results. Nevertheless, to the best of our knowledge, this was the first
study to investigate various psychopathological dimensions in patients
with psoriasis.
CONCLUSIONS: Our study results indicate that alexithymia and female sex
were associated with several psychopathological dimensions in patients
with psoriasis. It may be suggested that alexithymia constitutes an
important factor in the development of mental disorders among patients
with psoriasis.
Συγγραφείς:
Korkoliakou, Panagiota
Efstathiou, Vasiliki
Giannopoulou, Ioanna
and Christodoulou, Christos
Kouris, Anargyros
Rigopoulos,
Dimitrios
Douzenis, Athanasios
