Psychological profile of patients with atopic dermatitis

Tests designed to measure psychopathological characteristics common to the neurotic population were administered to patients with atopic dermatitis, patients with other dermatological disorders and to a control group of normal individuals. The parameters tested were manifest anxiety, neurosis, extroversion, depression, hypochondriasis and hysteria. The scores were statistically analyzed. The results showed that patients with atopic dermatitis responded significantly differently from patients with other dermatological diseases and from the control group in specific psychometric scales. Moreover, patients with skin conditions other than atopic dermatitis also responded significantly differently from the control group. The study clearly shows that patients with atopic dermatitis have a characteristic psychological profile not shared by the other two groups. The atopic dermatitis patients tend to be in a state of high manifest anxiety, depressed, neurotic and hypochondriac.