IntroductionChronic inflammatory skin diseases such as psoriasis have undoubtedly a negative impact on the patients’ quality of life. Many of them may face various limitations in their psychosocial lives because of symptoms indicating the presence of psychopathological phenomena. Mental disorders in patients with skin diseases occur much more frequently than in the general population. Studies show that a considerable percentage (30-60%) of dermatological patients suffers from mental disorders (depressive and anxiety disorders being the most common). A person's attitude towards illness, its acceptance, and also the recognition of its limitations may be of a great importance in the process of the disease control.AimTo evaluate of the relationship between the illness acceptance degree, and the presence and intensity of psychopathological symptoms in patients with psoriasis.Material and methodsThe research was conducted on a group of 54 people (23 men and 31 women), who were treated for psoriasis in the Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Medical University of Lodz and in the Department of Dermatology, Pediatric Dermatology and Oncology, Medical University of Lodz. The following research methods were used: a questionnaire prepared for the purpose of the research, Acceptance of Illness Scale (AIS) and Symptom Checklist (SCL-90).ResultsIt was found that there was a relationship between the skin illness acceptance degree and intensity of psychopathological symptoms in patients with psoriasis (negative correlations).ConclusionsThe higher the degree of illness acceptance is, the better mental condition of patients with psoriasis is. The intensity of psychopathological symptoms is also affected by the duration of illness, other people's attitude to the skin disease, age and education level of the patients examined.

To determine the influence of religious coping and religiousness on the psychological functioning of Polish patients before and after arthroplasty, a prospective study was performed. Out of a pool of 102 potential participants, a total of 61 (34 females, 27 males) completed a purposely created survey, Brief-COPE followed by preoperative and postoperative Perceived Stress Scale, State Trait Anxiety Inventory and Satisfaction with Life Scale. Religious coping was not associated with: (1) perceived stress before or after surgery; (2) preoperative or postoperative anxiety; (3) life satisfaction. A two-factor ANOVA has shown that religious coping controlled by religiousness was related to better psychological functioning. Between- and within-subjects effects were observed for improvement in life satisfaction measured by split-plot ANOVA, which suggests (p < 0.05) that such improvement was greater among subjects of higher religious orientation. We concluded that religious strategies in dealing with stress measured by Brief-COPE were least likely to benefit patients of low-religious orientation. The study demonstrated the importance of core religious beliefs in predicting benefits derived from religiousness in the face of a crisis. This study showed that regardless of its effectiveness, turning to religion is common among Polish patients about to undergo surgery for osteoarthritis of the hip.

Częstotliwość odczuwania lęku i występowania zaburzeń lękowych wśród osób z niepełnosprawnością wzrokową znacząco przekracza poziom szacowany dla populacji ogólnej. Szacuje się, że 1/3 osób z niepełnosprawnością wzrokową doświadcza uczucia depresji i/lub lęku, zaś 4–6 % osób ma stawianą diagnozę zaburzeń lękowych. Celem niniejszej pracy jest analiza problematyki występowania lęku u osób z niepełnosprawnością wzrokową na podstawie dotychczasowych doniesień. Przegląd literatury wskazuje, że osoby z dysfunkcją wzroku doświadczają zarówno powszechnie występujących, jak i specyficznych symptomów lęku, często przybierających charakter przewlekły. Mimo znaczącej skali tego zjawiska, jak i jego negatywnych konsekwencji, w literaturze brakuje doniesień, które wyjaśniałaby przyczyny, precyzowały problem, a przede wszystkim rekomendowały zalecenia pozwalające przeciwdziałać występowaniu lęku w omawianej grupie. Dla zrozumienia natury lęku istotne jest poznanie zarówno jego przyczyn, jak i konsekwencji dla zdrowia w rozumieniu dobrostanu biopsychospołecznego i duchowego. Ponieważ u osób z dysfunkcjami wzroku te zależności mogą być modyfikowane przez szczególne warunki, z którymi spotykają się w swoim codziennym funkcjonowaniu, zagadnienie lęku w tej grupie wymaga osobnego rozważenia.

Visual impairment present from birth or from an early childhood may lead to psychosocial and emotional disorders. 11-40% of children in the group with visual impairment show traits of autism. The aim of this paper was to present the selected examples of how visual impairment in children is related to the occurrence of autism and to describe the available tools for diagnosing autism in children with visual impairment. So far the relation between visual impairment in children and autism has not been sufficiently confirmed. Psychiatric and psychological diagnosis of children with visual impairment has some difficulties in differentiating between "blindism" and traits typical for autism resulting from a lack of standardized diagnostic tools used to diagnosing children with visual impairment. Another difficulty in diagnosing autism in children with visual impairment is the coexistence of other disabilities in case of most children with vision impairment. Additionally, apart from difficulties in diagnosing autistic disorders in children with eye dysfunctions there is also a question of what tools should be used in therapy and rehabilitation of patients.

The results indicate the need for intervention in the psychological functioning of people with obstructive diseases.