Alexithymia, anxiety and depression in patients with psoriasis: a case–control study

Κορκολιάκου, Παναγιώτα; Christodoulou, Christos; Kouris, Anargyros; Porichi, Evgenia; Efstathiou, Vasiliki; Kaloudi, Eythymia; Kokkevi, Anna; Stavrianeas, Nikolaos; Papageorgiou, Charalabos; Douzenis, Athanasios

doi:10.1186/s12991-014-0038-7

Cited by 52 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Few studies have been published in the field of alexithymia in psoriasis and its possible causes. Our results indicated high TAS-20 scores of patients with psoriasis, showing that, in line with previous research, 32.4% of the patients suffer from alexithymia and can be considered as a psychologically at-risk group [23] . Concerning gender, according to the previous studies, we would expect a higher prevalence of alexithymia, as a personality trait, in males than females [10] .…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Alexithymia and Plaque Psoriasis: Preliminary Investigation in a Clinical Sample of 250 Patients

et al. 2016

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Background/Aims: Psoriasis as a dermatological disorder has complex effects on mental health and the psychological status of the patient. Many authors proposed that assessing how psoriasis affects a patient's life is better than a body surface area measurement for delineating psoriasis severity. Alexithymia is a personality dimension characterized by difficulty identifying feelings, difficulty describing feelings, and externally oriented thinking observed in many clinical conditions, especially in psychosomatic disorders. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of alexithymia in patients with plaque psoriasis compared with healthy participants, while taking into consideration demographic and clinical variables. Methods: We enrolled 250 patients with chronic plaque psoriasis, naïve to any systemic treatment, and 215 healthy individuals. The 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) was used to assess alexithymia. Data analysis was done. Results: The mean TAS score was 53.5 (±15.3) for the patient group and 45.1 (±10.8) for controls (p < 0.0001). Compared to controls, the psoriasis group showed significant alexithymic features (32.4 vs. 9.3%), and no significant differences of alexithymia between patients with severe and mild psoriasis were observed. A significant relationship was determined between alexithymia and female gender and sensitive area involvement, such as the face, hands, and genital area. Conclusion: This study suggests that the assessment of alexithymia should be a part of the comprehensive care of patients with moderate to severe psoriasis. For this purpose, the TAS-20 is a useful and simple tool to be used in daily clinical practice.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Alexithymia and Plaque Psoriasis: Preliminary Investigation in a Clinical Sample of 250 Patients

et al. 2016

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“…Similarly, healthy control group with GHQ score ≥3 enjoyed a better QOL in comparison to psoriasis patients with GHQ score ≥3. Despite the fact that depression and anxiety did not differ significantly between patients with psoriasis and healthy controls, it is noteworthy that 33.3 and 60% of the psoriatic patients scored above the cut-off score in the HADS-D and HADS-A subscale respectively, a finding, i.e., consistent with the study conducted by Korkoliakou et al, 14 which suggests that psychological morbidity is a clinically important concern in patients with psoriasis. This result was also supported by another study conducted by Golpour et al 15 The lower scores on QOL scale by cases of psoriasis compared with that of healthy controls may be due to their perceived lesions, social stigma, lack of social support, and disturbing activities of daily living due to the skin.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Psychiatric Morbidity and Quality of Life in Patients suffering from Psoriasis in a Tertiary Care Hospital

Kumar¹,

Shrivastava²,

Jaiswal³

et al. 2017

International Journal of Advanced and Integrated Medical Sciences

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Introduction: Psoriasis is an inflammatory skin disease, which may be persistent, disfiguring, and stigmatizing. The disease is frequent, with prevalence estimates ranging from 0.3 to 2.5%. It is characterized by thick, red, scaly lesion that may appear on any part of the body. Psoriasis is associated with significant psychological and psychiatric morbidity, experience of stigmatization, and decreased health-related quality of life (QOL).

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“…5 Although not all patients with psoriasis are alexithymic, the majority of studies have found a significant difference in the levels of alexithymia between patients with psoriasis and healthy individuals. 6-8 Moreover, many studies have shown that depression and anxiety are associated with alexithymia. 6,9-11 Nevertheless, the assessment of psychopathology in previous studies was based mainly on questionnaires evaluating anxiety and depression symptoms, apart from a study that used the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) to investigate emotional distress regarding pruritus perception in patients with psoriasis.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…6-8 Moreover, many studies have shown that depression and anxiety are associated with alexithymia. 6,9-11 Nevertheless, the assessment of psychopathology in previous studies was based mainly on questionnaires evaluating anxiety and depression symptoms, apart from a study that used the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) to investigate emotional distress regarding pruritus perception in patients with psoriasis. 12,13 …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychopathology and alexithymia in patients with psoriasis

Κορκολιάκου

Efstathiou

Giannopoulou

et al. 2017

An. Bras. Dermatol.

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BackgroundPsoriasis is a chronic, inflammatory, relapsing skin disease that has a psychosocial impact on the patients' life.ObjectiveThis 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.Methods108 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.ResultsAs 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 LimitationsA 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.ConclusionsOur 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.

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Alexithymia, anxiety and depression in patients with psoriasis: a case–control study

Cited by 52 publications

References 22 publications

Alexithymia and Plaque Psoriasis: Preliminary Investigation in a Clinical Sample of 250 Patients

Alexithymia and Plaque Psoriasis: Preliminary Investigation in a Clinical Sample of 250 Patients

Psychiatric Morbidity and Quality of Life in Patients suffering from Psoriasis in a Tertiary Care Hospital

Psychopathology and alexithymia in patients with psoriasis

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