The aim of this study was to evaluate characteristic personality system interaction in patients with psoriasis, atopic dermatitis and urticaria. The differences between these three disease groups were examined with respect to various psychological variables and deviations from a group of healthy controls. A total of 56 patients with atopic dermatitis (n=21), psoriasis (n=20) and urticaria (n=15) were tested with the "Assessment of Personality Functioning in Therapy" Inventory, which consists of psychometric scales for basic needs (affiliation, achievement, power), enactment of needs-related behaviour, stress, emotional dispositions, cognitive styles and various self-regulation functions. Significant differences with respect to needs and motivational goals, cognitive styles and self-regulation competence were found between the three disease groups, showing considerable overlap between atopic dermatitis and urticaria, but only a little overlap with psoriasis. From a psychological viewpoint, patients with psoriasis seem to carry a higher risk of developing mental disorders. Based on our results, existing prevention programmes for patients with atopic dermatitis seem appropriate, whereas such programmes for patients with psoriasis should focus on self-motivation, prevention of addictive behaviour, and strengthening of self-efficacy.

OBJECTIVES. Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized by a pervasive affective dysregulation. While recent imaging studies demonstrated the neural correlates of abnormal emotion processing in BPD and recently one study reported alterations of the reward circuit in this patient group, the exact neural mechanisms underlying the impact of abnormal emotion on reward behavior remain unclear. METHODS. We therefore conducted an fMRI study in healthy controls and BPD patients to investigate the modulation of the anticipation of reward by simultaneously presented emotional pictures. RESULTS. BPD patients revealed a disturbed differentiation between reward and non-reward anticipation in the bilateral pregenual anterior cingulate cortex if a positive or negative emotional picture is presented simultaneously. In the ventral striatum and the bilateral ventral tegmental area, BPD patients and healthy controls are able to differentiate between reward and non-reward even under emotional stimulation, but BPD patients show a reduced deactivation in the above mentioned regions compared to healthy controls. CONCLUSIONS. Altered emotion processing in BPD patients is likely to affect the reward system. More basic deficits in reward circuitry and other midline regions' level of resting state activity may contribute to this effect.

ObjectiveRecent neuroscience studies explored the neuronal mechanisms underlying our sense of self. Thereby the cortical midline structures and their anterior and posterior regions have been shown to be central. What remains unclear though is how both, self and cortical midline structures, are related to the identity of the self which is of central importance in especially personality disorders.MethodsConducting an exploratory study with a dimensional approach, we here compared subjects with high and low level of personality functioning and identity integration as measured in a standardized way in fMRI during both, emotion- and reward-related tasks.ResultsLow levels of personality functioning and identity integration were predicted by significantly decreased degrees of deactivation in the anterior and posterior cortical midline structures.ConclusionsThough exploratory our results show for the first time direct relationship between cortical midline structures and personality functioning in terms of identity integration. This does not only contribute to our understanding of the neuronal mechanism underlying self and identity but carries also major implications for the treatment of patients with personality disorders.

In his autobiography, Charles Bukowski (1920-1994) describes his severe acne conglobata, his experience with therapy, family conflicts and emotional tension. Despite the stigmatization by his acne scars, Bukowski became a philobatic writer and a true chronist of the American way of life in the second half of the 20th century, writing in a coarse and obscene language.

Zusammenfassung Ein Bild des Malers Michael M. Prechtl zeigt Hautver?nderungen an Hemingways Armen, die als Pr?kanzerosen interpretiert werden k?nnen. Auf Fotografien von Hemingway sind diese Ver?nderungen nicht sichtbar, dagegen Spuren aktinischer Sch?digung der Gesichtshaut. Hemingway selbst hat in seinem Roman ?Der alte Mann und das Meer? eine lebhafte Beschreibung chronisch-aktinischer Hautsch?digung geliefert. Eine Werkanalyse macht deutlich, dass sich Hemingway zwar der potenziell sch?digenden Wirkung des Sonnenlichts bewusst gewesen ist, gleichzeitig jedoch auch dem damals schon geltenden Sch?nheitsideal einer gebr?unten Haut verhaftet war.