Influence of disease phase on embitterment and emotional dysregulation in psoriatic patients

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to evaluate the psychosocial differences between patients with psoriasis in different phases of the disease. Seventy-one patients in exacerbation and 83 in remission were evaluated regarding sociodemographic, clinical and psychological variables, on the premise that the visibility of lesions (exacerbation phase) may impact the emotional regulation and embitterment. A regression analysis was performed to identify the variables that contribute to explain embitterment: a diagnosis of anxiety and/or depression and psoriasis severity are the identified ones. The results point to higher values of emotional dysregulation and embitterment, as well as more critical clinical variables in patients with active disease, namely, alcohol and coffee consumption, smoking and less satisfaction with current treatment, more diagnoses and more family history of anxiety and depression, more psychology/psychiatry consultations and more use of anxiolytics and antidepressants. However, only the results referring to alcohol consumption and embitterment are significantly higher in subjects in the exacerbation phase of the disease. Particular clinical attention should be provided to patients in exacerbation phase regarding psychotherapeutic approach.

KEYWORDS:

• Psoriasis
• embitterment
• emotional regulation
• alcohol consumption
• exacerbation
• remission

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This Work is supported by CESPU – Cooperativa de Ensino Superior Universitário under the Grants” “INSIGHT4ADHERE-PFT-IINFACTS-2019” and “DEBORA-PI-3RL-IINFACTS-2019”. This work was supported by the Applied Molecular Biosciences Unit-UCIBIO which is financed by national funds from FCT/MCTES (UID/Multi/04378/2019).To PSOportugal for the support in data collection.