[Trauma and psychological distress in dermatological patients]

Although seldom diagnosed, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has a high prevalence in primary and tertiary care. In a consecutive cross-sectional study, the prevalence of traumatic experiences and the severity of post-traumatic symptoms as well as specific characteristics of traumatized patients in the context of the dermatological treatment were examined.

Standardized questionnaires for assessing general psychopathology (Brief Symptom Inventory, BSI), coping with dermatological diseases (Adjustment to Chronic Skin Diseases Questionnaire, MHF) and diagnosis of trauma (Essen Trauma-Inventory, ETI) were used in 221 patients with different skin diseases.

In total, 85.1 % of the patients reported at least one potentially traumatic event in their lives, whereby psychometrically in 8.6 % of the cases the diagnostic criteria for a PTSD were met. Patients with suspected PTSD were more impacted by psychopathology, had more problems in coping with their skin diseases and attributed mental stress as having a greater influence on their skin disease than nontraumatized patients or traumatized patients without suspected PTSD. In addition, cumulative traumatization also leads to increased trauma symptomatology and greater difficulties in coping with skin diseases.

The results emphasize the impact of a comorbid PTSD on a patient's ability to cope with skin diseases and underline the need for the inclusion of the differential diagnosis PTSD in dermatological treatment settings.