Related Experiment Videos
Psychiatric symptoms associated with scleroderma
N V Angelopoulos1, A A Drosos, H M Moutsopoulos
1Department of Psychiatry, Medical School, University of Thessalia, Larissa, Greece. nikifang@med.uth.gr
Background:
The prevalence of psychiatric symptoms and hostility factors in patients with scleroderma, although a matter of clinical interest, it is rather poorly studied.
Methods:
Thirty female patients with scleroderma were investigated. Thirty-three healthy women were used as a comparison group. The applied psychometric instruments were the Hostility and Direction of Hostility Questionnaire (HDHQ), the Delusions Symptoms States Inventory/states of Anxiety and Depression (DSSI/sAD) and the Symptom Check List-90R (SCL-90R).
Results:
The scleroderma patients reported significantly increased depression and anxiety, somatization, interpersonal sensitivity and obsessive-compulsiveness. Paranoid ideation and psychotic symptoms scores were also increased. On hostility, they presented significantly higher scores predominantly on guilt.
Conclusions:
Psychiatric symptomatology in the form of anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsiveness, somatization and feelings of guilt were reported by the majority of the patients with scleroderma.