Psychological distress and coping strategies in patients with psoriasis: the PSYCHAE Study

Abstract

(i) Psychological distress was relatively frequent in our patients with psoriasis; (ii) female gender was the most important predictive factor for psychological distress; (iii) there was no association between psoriasis severity and psychological distress; (iv) planning and active coping were the coping strategies most frequently employed by patients; and (v) most dermatologists employed a problem-orientated attitude in caring for patients.

Quality of Life in Psoriasis

“…Presence of psoriatic arthritis, psychiatric disorders, and other co-morbidities may further worsen QoL and should be taken into account. The association between symptom severity and QoL, though observed by some studies [98,116], is not always strong, and other studies found no significant association at all [48,95]. Symptom severity has been shown to have a greater direct impact on the physical rather than the mental components of QoL, while the effects of stigmatization on QoL are more strongly mental [67].…”

“…The same authors investigated patients' coping strategies and found that planning, active coping and acceptance were strategies most commonly employed by their patients while denial, behavioural disengagement, and substance abuse were the least frequent attitudes [48]. During the 12-month follow-up, active coping and avoiding dramatization by recourse to humor were predictive factors of amelioration of PD [66].…”

“…Boehm et al [67] have found that women reported higher discomfort levels and higher stigmatization, and that, in general, gender differences are observable in the mental component summary score, but not in general-physical or skin-related QoL. The PSYCHAE study, conducted on nearly 1600 Italian psoriasis patients, found that the female gender was the most important predictive factor for psychological distress [48].…”

“…Studies have shown that dermatologists employ a problem-orientated coping style in caring' for their patients, and often appear much more interested in investigating the superficial skin rather than the deep emotions of their patients [48]. On the contrary, it is essential that measures of psychosocial morbidity are included when assessing psoriasis severity.…”

Systemic Cyclosporin in the Treatment of Psoriasis

“…Psychological distress is common in psoriatic patients (Colombo et al, 2010c;Finzi et al, 2007). A large, observational, follow-up study of more than 1500 psoriatic patients (the PSYCHAE study) revealed that methotrexate and topical corticosteroids were associated with a significantly increased risk of minor psychological distress, whereas cyclosporin significantly reduced such distress, perhaps because of patients' overall perceptions of efficacy and tolerability (Colombo et al, 2010c).…”