Psychodermatology in Hungary: Awareness and practice patterns of dermatologists

Psychodermatology is an interdisciplinary branch of medicine between psychiatry /psychology and dermatology.

This study aimed to assess Hungarian dermatologists' awareness, practice patterns and attitudes towards psychodermatology.

A questionnaire-based survey was sent from October 2020 to June 2021 to 100 dermatologists (including residents in dermatology) in Hungary with a response rate of 51%. The participants were asked about understanding of the concept of psychodermatology and their training in this field, comfort in treatment, and interest in continuing medical education on dermatological disorders with psychological components.

49% of the respondents understood psychodermatology as a bidirectional interaction of the patient's mental and dermatological conditions, and 25.5% were comfortable in treating psychodermatological patients. The most common dermatological diagnoses with psychological/psychiatric involvement reported were psoriasis and atopic dermatitis. Atopic dermatitis, anxiety, delusional parasitosis, and depression were the most common diagnoses when dermatologists referred patients to psychiatrists. In total, 76.5% of participants could not name any resource (magazine, website, etc.) for patients and their families where information about psychodermatology is available, and 58.8% showed a definite interest in attending training on psychodermatology.

The results of our study suggest that Hungarian dermatologists have a high awareness of the term "psychodermatology", and only a quarter of practitioners feel adequately equipped and comfortable managing patients with psychosomatic aspects in their treatment. The relatively large gap between the number of patients with a psychodermatological component and referrals by dermatologists to mental health specialists indicates the potential importance of more intensive collaboration between dermatologists, psychiatrists and/or psychologists.